Microsoft Lifts Big Apple into the Cloud

After providing the Cloud offerings to power Hollywood, Microsoft’s hosted services will also be embraced by Big Apple.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer announced a new deal earlier this week, designed to save the city of New York no less than $10 million per year for the next five years.

Per the agreement, New York City will adopt Microsoft’s Cloud as a part of the "SimpliCity" initiative, moving its collaboration and communications to the Cloud.

The move is designed to consolidate the disparate license agreements for technology that the city’s agencies negotiated and acquired separately, and provide a single computing platform for over 100,000 City employees, some 30,000 in the first uptake wave alone.

"To deliver services efficiently and function at the highest level, City employees need the same technological resources that top private sector businesses provide to their employees," Mayor Bloomberg revealed.

"Through our partnership with Microsoft, we've found ways to offer our employees Microsoft's newest, state-of-the-art computing tools while reducing costs to taxpayers.

“By capitalizing on the City's buying power, consolidating dozens of separate City agency license agreements into a single one, and paying for software based on use, we'll save $50 million over the next five years."

In the Blue Room of City Hall, Bloomberg and Ballmer revealed that they expect New York City to save a total of $50 million until 2015 with the new hosted communication and collaboration services from the Redmond company.

Recently, the software giant’s hosted services were also selected by the State of California in a move to modernize the technology offered to its own employees.

"Microsoft is excited to partner with Mayor Bloomberg and the City of New York to deliver the best experience and satisfaction to the City's citizens and workers," Ballmer added.

"With Microsoft's latest cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools, New York City employees will benefit from having better access to information, improved collaboration and information sharing among city agencies.

“Additionally, this comprehensive partnership provides the latest in operating system, server and development tools laying a foundation for greater innovation and infrastructure modernization."