Microsoft battles Google for government e-mail contract
Microsoft and Google are both bidding to provide online e-mail services to a major federal agency. It comes as Google missed a deadline for similar services in Los Angeles.
It becomes a sixth front on the battle between the companies, adding to existing rivalries in search, web browsers, online office document applications, mobile operating systems and the forthcoming attempt by Google for its Chrome operating system to challenge Windows, particularly on netbooks.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Google Apps has already been approved as meeting security requirements for the General Services Administration, while Microsoft Exchange — currently used by 90 percent of Federal staff — is close to getting similar approval.
The GSA has around 15,000 e-mail users, but the battle is as much about significance as the raw numbers. The administration is in charge of much of the logistics and bureaucracy of other federal agencies, taking care of everything from office space to cutting costs.
For Google to get the contract from what’s effectively the agency which makes sure other agencies can operate would be a clear sign that the assumption public organizations will always default to Microsoft software may no longer be accurate. That’s particularly true for cloud-based services where reliability and security are arguably even more critical than usual.
Google’s case won’t have been helped by an embarrassing situation in Los Angeles where, having beaten out Microsoft to become the supplier of e-mail and other collaboration software to the city government, it’s missed a deadline to get its systems in place and operational. That’s apparently down to delays in satisfying the police department that it meets all security firms.
As a result, the city will run both Google Apps and the existing Novell system until Google is fully in place. In the meantime Google will pick up a six-figure bill for the ongoing Novell costs.
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