 | |||
|
|
||
| |||
| |||
| |||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| |
|
Home > Cloud computing News > L.A. bets on cloud computing with Google Apps despite financial woes |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Cloud computing News: |
|
||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Although Google beat out a Microsoft proposal for the business, whether users will start using other Google Premier apps -- word processing, spreadsheets and so on -- instead of Microsoft Office standbys remains unclear. If they do, Google will win another victory for both its apps and its cloud computing model. Additionally, a provision in the contract could win L.A. significant monetary concessions if references from this deal win Google Apps more business elsewhere in the state. An October 7, 2009 report from City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana lays out the deal: The city may receive a series of discounts of up to $1,200,000 for its Google subscription costs if California governmental entities, such as the city's proprietary departments or the county of Los Angeles, 'piggy-back' onto the city's contract. Some see this as an untenable conflict of interest, as it is highly unlikely that a city IT worker will discuss problems with the deployment if the city's budget will be adversely affected. Critics also say the technology choice was poorly thought out and is fraught with unknowns in cost and performance that make it a risky move for a city government reeling from financial crisis. But the city IT staff is sticking to its guns. "We don't consider ourselves bleeding edge," said Kevin Crawford, assistant general manager for L.A.'s Information Technology Agency. Crawford is overseeing the planning and migration of the city's roughly 30,000 email users and archived data. Software as a Service (SaaS) is a well-tested model, he said, and that knowledge, combined with Google's promise to provide security and economic safeguards for its government cloud, convinced him that the move was wise. Google's plan to protect government data "If [Google] breaks confidentiality we can go after them for unlimited damages," Crawford said. Even a secret federal subpoena would break the contract if Google didn't notify city officials. The original proposal specified complete auditing of facilities and procedures used by Google to store mail, and Crawford said he was satisfied with what he'd seen and the relevant penalties specified by the contract.
Critics not satisfied "Who's going to pay for the Internet [use] for 30,000 people to use Google Video?" asked Kevin McDonald, executive vice president at Huntington Beach Calif.-based Alvaka Networks and IT consultant who closely followed these negotiations but is not involved in the deal. Questions about extra bandwidth and the limited capabilities of some Google services make this an enormous risk, according to McDonald. Even if security concerns are addressed there are many more factors that should go into making a decision like this, he said. McDonald also said that he thinks the productivity claims Google made to win the deal are dubious at best. "Google justified its pitch by saying that the use of Google Apps will save a ton of money based on productivity gains, when everyone knows that when you put in something new, you never know if it will integrate [well] or not with existing technology," McDonald said. McDonald also said the deal shouldn't have taken place during a fiscal crisis, and that the immediate timing adds an unnecessary one-time cost of more than $1 million. Since the costs of running Google are the same as running GroupWise, the move easily could have been delayed, he noted. The city hopes to cover the additional $1 million in costs from installation and migration by CSC with a $1.5 million payment from a 2006 class action lawsuit against Microsoft. Google's image as a new, hip application provider is in its favor. Students and other young PC users are already adept at Google apps. McDonald watched a city councilor at the October 27th budget meeting raise a fist in the air and say "I say we go, and we go Google!" Although critics have their doubts about the capabilities and costs of this implementation, no one questions why Google pitched the deal: Google aims to demonstrate that Google Apps, often viewed as lightweight and being in perpetual beta, is ready for the enterprise. "This is a great reference account for Google -- a great move -- especially the very public nature of it," said Matt Cain, email and collaboration analyst for Gartner. Crawford confirmed that the project is getting an awful lot of attention, who said he's been contacted by 29 different agencies from five states that want to observe the migration, which will begin after the contract is approved and signed by the mayor. Carl Brooks is the Technology Writer at SearchCloudComputing.com and Barbara Darrow is the Senior News Director. Contact him at cbrooks@techtarget.com and her at bdarrow@techtarget.com.
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
About Us | Contact Us | For Advertisers | For Business Partners | Site Index | RSS |
|
|
||
|
|||||||
