It wasn’t all that long ago when Los Angeles announced that it was moving its operations into the cloud. Now we get word that Orlando will be moving its email infrastructure into Google’s
From Chicago Tribune:
In a multimillion-dollar move being watched by government agencies across the country, Orlando this week became one of the first cities in America to switch all of its employees to Google e-mail.
The implications are vastly bigger than simply changing the icon that Orlando workers click on their computer desktops.
For city officials, it means cutting annual e-mail costs by two-thirds, saving taxpayers an estimated $262,500 a year.
An interesting story. I’d be interested to see if the privacy groups will be crying foul over this deal as they did when the Los Angeles story broke.
So, what’s at the root of the deal?
Google is charging $45.50 per user, or $136,500. In return, everyone from city planners to police officers will use a Web-based e-mail system similar to Google’s popular Gmail, but without the advertisements that support the free consumer version. Google servers will store all city e-mail and run the application, and Google technicians — not city employees — will make sure it runs smoothly.
Damn sight better that hemorrhaging cash on recurring license fees for software.