Google Apps has already landed a few big customers in the public sector — including the City of Los Angeles — and today the company forwarded its drive into the space by launching a new edition of its app suite: Google Apps for Government.
Google Apps for Government is, according to Google, the first cloud computing app suite to receive the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) certification. This will make it easier for agencies or groups to evaluate and adopt Google Apps.
Any product aimed at government employees needs more than just certification, which is why Google notes in its blog post that Gmail and Google Calendar data will be segregated into data centers marked exclusively for government users in the continental U.S.
After the Street View privacy fiasco, this sort of segmentation is going to be a necessary feature for any sort of widespread adoption. After all, while cloud-based applications can be very attractive to government users — especially as departmental budgets get tighter — there are simply some considerations that separate a government user from the average business.
Government agencies or departments need to not only follow security protocols, which Google is addressing in part by getting FISMA certification, but many of these departments also need to have specific reporting, collecting and archiving measures in place. This is one reason that Microsoft has its own government-only cloud facility for its products aimed at federal users.
This announcement and product is a big step for Google and having a formal government offering will certainly make the company more visible in the space. Google’s competitors haven’t been sitting idle. While Google can often undercut its competitors on price, security and reliability are two factors that matter more to many government users.
If you’re interested in seeing what a government migration to Google Apps looks like, check out the video about the City of Los Angeles transition below.
How do you feel about government agencies running on the cloud?
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