Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced a new version of Google App Engine, furthering its goal of making Google’s scalable infrastructure available to all developers – from those in startups to those working in enterprise IT departments.

New features include:

* Cron support. Developers want the flexibility to run tasks on a regular basis, without the need for labor-intensive monitoring and maintenance. Starting today, App Engine developers can automatically run and schedule jobs using cron.

* Database import and export. Developers want the freedom to move around application data in lockstep with business needs. Starting today, App Engine developers can batch transfer gigabytes of data into App Engine using a new import tool. Export capabilities will be available within the next month.

* Access to firewalled data. Enterprise developers want the security of firewalled data and the ease of web app deployment, but applications in the cloud can’t generally access on-premise datastores. To address this challenge Google is launching the Secure Data Connector, which enables centrally-managed access to on-premise data from Google Apps™, including App Engine- and gadget-based solutions.

In conjunction with today’s news, we are also giving developers an early look at App Engine’s support for the Java programming language. Limited to the first 10,000 sign-ups, this early look is intended to gather feedback from the Java developer community. Important highlights include:

* Standards-based. App Engine’s use of standard Java APIs and libraries enables developers to work with the Java tools and frameworks they’re already familiar with, and ensures the easy deployment of their Java code to all standard J2EE servlet containers, including IBM WebSphere, Tomcat and others.

* An end-to-end solution. App Engine’s early look at Java language support includes a Java runtime, integration with the new Google Web Toolkit 1.6, and a Google Plugin for Eclipse. Together these tools provide a unified development experience for writing AJAX applications in a single language, from client to server.

“In making Google’s infrastructure broadly available, App Engine has helped over 150,000 developers focus on designing and launching great products, without the usual scale and maintenance headaches,” said Andrew Bowers, Product Manager at Google. “Today – with newly-launched features, and an early look at Java language support – we’re making Google App Engine a viable deployment option for more and more application developers.”
Google has worked in coordination with Oracle™, IBM™, Appirio™, Cast Iron™, Panorama™, PivotLink™, Sword Group™, ThoughtWorks™, Cloud Sherpas™ and PingIdentity™, on this launch. These companies have developed applications and gadgets using the App Engine features premiering today.

To learn more about Google App Engine, and to watch the video of tonight’s Campfire One announcement, visit https://code.google.com/appengine. Additionally, the App Engine team will be on-hand at the Google I/O conference in May (https://code.google.com/events/io) to engage in product discussions with the larger developer community.