According to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports, ‘sources in the know’ have revealed that Google intends launching a new online version of its Marketing Solutions site, via which it will sell third-party business software to Google Apps customers.

The move, which clearly reflects Google’s attempts to offer some direct competition to Microsoft in the business software arena, will add partners as well as functionality to the Internet search giant’s suite of word-processing tools, spreadsheet, and Web-based e-mail.

Apparently, business software is Google’s strategic expansion area – ever since it commenced that sale of enterprise business applications almost two-and-a-half years back, the company has reported the signing up of nearly 2 million organizations, for Gmail and Google Docs.

As per the WSJ, the new Google site will likely be announced as early as next month, and will boast some notable additional features like improved security and the capability of introducing contacts to Google Apps.

The report also that, as things progress further, the revenue generated from the software sales through the new site will be shared by Google and the third-party software providers.

In a recent statement, Google said: “The Google Solutions Marketplace makes it easy for our customers to connect with an ecosystem of products and professional services. We're constantly working with our partners to deliver more solutions to businesses, but we have nothing to announce at this time.”