Google Apps to be Implemented in Government

Eariler today, Google announced its release of Google Apps for Government: a new version of the Google App productivity suite which has been certified by the U.S. government as meeting necessary security standards.

Specifically, Google Government (cue images of totalitarian Google empire) is based off of Google Apps Premier edition, and includes the same core apps: Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sites, Groups, Video, and Postini. Prices are the same as Google Apps Premier’s at $50 per user per year.

Google Apps has been qualified as FISMA-Moderate, meaning that the application is authorized for use with sensitive, but unclassified data. Additionally, Google will be storing the government information on servers separate from those used by commercial Google customers.

At the press release, Google representatives stated the benefits cloud computing presented for government bodies: that they would only pay by use, they would not have to worry about server maintenance, updates would come freely and automatically to each end user, and web-based services can actually have high security. Additionally, Google Apps has the potential to make government IT more efficient and cost-effective.

Government offices have already been unabashed users of Google Apps, Google Earth, etc. This FISMA certification is simply a validation that that’s okay.

Indeed, Orlando, the District of Columbia, Kansas, and New Mexico are already users of Google Apps for Government.

Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, also stated that Google will try to move its Chrome OS forward for governmental use, and that Google apps “will run incredibly well and incredibly securely on Chrome OS.”

Yet, the Microsoft giant still dominates the productivity market, government sector included, with Office. Microsoft even expects to soon receive FISMA certification for its own Business Productivity Online Suite. In this latest development of the on-going Microsoft and Google trench war, the question is how many government agencies are really willing to toss out years of Office Suite use for Google Apps. Though Google Apps is very convenient for work collaboration, it has not yet surpassed Office in functionality. And so it all continues.

Tags: Google Apps