GSA migrates email service into Google's cloud

 The U.S. government may not be known for its swiftness in making technology transitions, but the General Services Administration (GSA) has bucked that trend by migrating over 17,000 of its employee and contractor email accounts over to Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) cloud-based Apps for Government.

Martha Johnson, GSA Administrator, said in a blog that by migrating into the cloud her agency will cut email operation costs by 50 percent and that it could save a total of $15.2 million in IT costs between now and 2016.

"Cloud IT systems help streamline agency operations, reduces inefficiencies and free resources for other essential programs," Johnson said.

Johnson added that the cloud services model would help GSA cut down the amount of data centers it has to equip with hardware, software licenses, maintenance and contractor support.   

Being the first agency to make such a large cloud services migration, GSA could serve as a catalyst for other federal government agencies that are trying to fulfill the Obama administration's "Cloud First" initiative. Under the initiative, Federal CIO Vivek Kundra believes the government could save about 30 percent on IT services.

For more:
- Government Information Security has this article

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