Google is being touted as the most prominent service provider in the cloud – the technology company recently topped the list of service providers in the Cloud & Technology Transformation Alliance’s cloud channel survey.

In today’s cloud computing environment, the service provider segment is a mix of telecom carriers, hosting companies, application and processing services and even application resellers, Channelnomics blogger Larry Walsh recently pointed out.

“When it comes to partnership in this confusing and evolving segment, channel partners say Google leads the pack with its ability to host applications, provide cloud-based services and partnership in applications,” Walsh said in a recent blog post.

Of the 229 solution providers, telephony agents and managed service providers surveyed, in the CTTA’s 2012 State of Cloud Channel survey, Google ranked at the top – 26 percent choose Google as the best carrier/hosting company to partner with in the channel.

Google, to this blogger’s surprise, is an unlikely choice for this segment since the company does not directly provide transport or hosting services.

“What it does is provide platform services, application and the ability for third-party developers to create and market their wares to cloud consumers,” Walsh noted.

The hosting market is viewed as being led by cloud services providers Amazon (Web Services) and hosting company Rackspace. In the CTTA survey, Rackspace comes in second in this category with 23 percent of channel partners’ endorsements, while Amazon trails behind Century Link and AT&T with 17 percent.

However, Google is certainly tantalizing enough for businesses from a cost perspective with its cloud computing services. The company evangelizes its cloud-based services by claiming that more and more large companies are migrating to the cloud with its services. On its website, Google Cloud Services touts its affiliations with such organizations as Best Buy and Ford.

“Our experience with Google App Engine really changed how we do things. We can use far fewer developers, and we don’t have to spend any time doing system administration or setting up servers, which allows us to focus on the development and testing new ideas,” said Gary Koelling, director of emerging platforms at Best Buy, in a testimony on Google’s Cloud Services website.

Other cloud providers were ranked high in the CTTA survey as well: companies receiving notable mentions by partners include Microsoft, which is pushing its cloud infrastructure, platform and application services; InContaact, a collaboration provider; CBeyond, a carrier service provider; and Paetec, a regional carrier that was recently acquired by Windstream.