Recent media reports suggest that Google may be in talks over a partnership or possible acquisition of software-as-a-service company Salesforce.com. 

Neither company would comment on the reports when contacted by vnunet.com. 

The Wall Street Journal reported that the pair are finalising details on a deal that would embed the Google Apps suite with Salesforce's customer resource management (CRM) service. 

No word was given on whether Salesforce's new service-oriented architecture service would be part of the deal.  

If the two companies were to join forces, the resulting product could rival Microsoft's upcoming Dynamics Live CRM product which combines the company's CRM software with Windows Live services and Office applications.  

With a market valuation of $5.49bn, an acquisition of Salesforce is likely to be the largest in Google's history. The search giant's largest acquisition to date is the $3.1bn deal for DoubleClick announced in April.  

The rumoured partnership would not be the first time that Google and Salesforce have worked together.

The ability to create mash-ups with services such as Google AdWords was one of the first features Salesforce touted when it announced plans to shift from a service provider to a web-based business software platform and online marketplace.  

Investors seemed to favour the idea of the two companies joining forces against Microsoft. Salesforce stock jumped four per cent after the reports of the deal were published.