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Google Releases 'Google Apps for Government'

by Amar Toor on July 27, 2010 at 04:30 PM

google apps for government Google's mobile apps have long provided normal clients with an easy way to manage their e-mail accounts, calendars and personal data. Now, though, the company is turning its attention toward the public sector, with a new set of Google Apps for Government.

Designed with guidance from the federal government and the city governments of Los Angeles and Orlando, the new apps include many of the same features available on normal Google apps, along with extra quirks to meet the specific needs of government workers. Public servants at the local, state or national level will now be able to use Google Apps for Government to store their Gmail and Calendar data in an exclusive, cloud-based format in the continental U.S. Because the apps don't require users to install or maintain extra software, the company is confident that the system will provide an easy and cost-effective alternative to traditional data maintenance.

Google's collection of apps has also just become the first set of cloud-computing applications to receive certification under the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), effectively giving the government's seal of approval to Google's security controls. As the company explains on its blog, FISMA accreditation "means government customers can move to the cloud with confidence."

Officials at Berkeley Lab have already begun storing their data in Google's cloud, aiming to more easily share data with scientists from around the world. With the apps, researchers can collectively edit documents stored in the cloud, and avoid the hassle of sending countless files back and forth. In general, these apps don't seem all that different from what Google's already produced for personal and private sector use. Now that its security infrastructure has received the federal government's vote of confidence, there's no reason to assume it won't catch on in the public sector, either. [From: Google]

Tags: CloudComputing, database, FederalInformationSecurityManagementAct, FISMA, google, GoogleApps, GoogleAppsForGovernment, government, top

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