In a move that could save millions of dollars, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has started utilizing Google Apps for its online needs, joining scores of other government agencies and businesses also making the switch.
Slated for completion by the end of this summer, the move is estimated to save the lab between $1.5 million to $2 million in hardware, software and labor costs over the next five years while reducing the number of servers the lab uses, according to a post made by the lab’s chief information officer, Rosio Alvarez, on the Official Google Enterprise blog Monday.
Google Apps utilizes “Google clouds,” which allow users to access a shared pool of computing resources without having to deal with the infrastructure required to run applications.
To date, the Berkeley lab has moved its 4,000 employees – scientists, engineers, support staff and students – to Google Mail. Employees are also utilizing other applications, including Google Docs and Google Sites, and a shift to use Google Calendar was scheduled for implementation this past weekend, according to Peter Lichty, the site occupational medical director at the lab.
Though the move is still under way, Lichty said the switch to Google Apps has been beneficial to employees in a variety of ways. Such advantages include simplifying collaboration through the use of Google Docs and increasing mobility and efficiency in checking lab e-mails.
“I like (Google Apps) – the interface is clean, I’m able to track my e-mails and handle them quicker and faster than before,” Lichty said. “For me, the best thing is being able to check my e-mail on the road or in meetings. I just got back from a business trip and because of Google Apps, I could keep up with my work e-mail from my iPhone.”
He added that Google Apps has also increased the sharing capabilities employees have while editing documents.
“Within LBNL, we’ve been using Google Docs for text documents and to upload word documents, and that allows multiple people to edit the same documents at the same time,” he said. “Nobody has to collect all the changes and incorporate them into a master document.”
With the switch, the lab joins a rapidly growing list of government agencies in the world of cloud computing.
“In its simplest form, (cloud computing) means instead of owning your own computers, you can pay to use someone else’s computers that are hosted and connected at a data center,” said Armando Fox, UC Berkeley adjunct associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science. “You can get one computer for an hour, 10,000 computers for a month or anything in between.”
Last Monday, Google launched Google Apps for Government – the first suite of cloud computing messaging and collaboration applications to receive Federal Information Security Management Act certification and accreditation from the federal government, according to Google spokesperson Dan Martin.
The city of Los Angeles, the city of Orlando, the District of Columbia and the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office are among the few government agencies already utilizing Google Apps.
“For LBNL specifically, they’re moving to Google – a very well established player in cloud computing – so that’s not revolutionary,” Fox said. “What’s interesting is if you ask what kinds of things might happen in the future? What is this a portent of?”