Unisys Corporation announced that it has helped the General Services Administration (GSA) successfully migrate all of its 17,000 email users to Google Apps for Government, a secure cloud-based email and collaboration platform. The transition makes GSA the first federal government agency to migrate all of its employees to a cloud-based email solution. Based on the success of its work with the GSA and other agencies, Unisys also announced the availability of its Collaborative Office Solutions - Google Apps for Government. Working with Google and Tempus Nova, Unisys will provide a set of services to help agencies accomplish their enterprise transitions to Google Apps for Government. Through this solution, agencies can benefit from reduced costs associated with cloud-based systems, increased uptime and availability of agency data, and the confidence of a secure solution that has received Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) authorization.
GSA awarded the contract to Unisys in December 2010 via its Alliant contract. GSA expects its new solution to increase employee productivity, enabling employees to work remotely from any location at any time while resulting in a 50% cost savings. GSA will also benefit from new collaboration capabilities, such as direct access to onsite and remote colleagues through video chat and shared documents.
"Our own transition to the cloud will save millions in taxpayer dollars annually," said GSA Administrator Martha Johnson. "We expect that using a cloud-based system will reduce email operation costs by 50% over the next 5 years and save more than $15.2 million for the agency in that time."
During the 6-month transition, more than 17,000 GSA and contractor email addresses, content and calendar data were migrated to Google Apps for Government. Enhanced user authentication and other security improvements were also added during the transition phase. Additionally, all mobile devices were transitioned, while certified Unisys consultants trained GSA employees on best practices for leveraging the Google Apps for Government platform. GSA and Unisys teams worked collaboratively to manage the transition with proactive end user communication and participation.