Wyoming Becomes the First US State to Switch Completely to Google Apps

Google has been peddling its Apps suite to enterprises and schools, but an equally attractive target has been the government and local administrations. Google even developed a special Apps version for government use, hoping to get the big administrative infrastructure to switch to the cloud.

Now, the first signs of its success can be seen as the state of Wyoming is announcing that it has finalized its transition to Google Apps, the first state to do this to date.

"This morning, Governor Matt Mead announced that the state of Wyoming has completed its transition to Google Apps for Government," Google announced.

"Since the state first declared its intention to go Google eight months ago, Wyoming has worked quickly to move all 10,000 state employees onto Google Apps," it detailed.

"For the first time ever, Wyoming’s entire state government now shares a common email, calendar and document system, making it easier for employees to find and collaborate with one another. By going Google, the state is also saving taxpaying Wyomingites approximately $1 million annually," it added.

The move is an important one for Google from several perspectives, for one it's a fairly big client and 10,000 new users is nothing to sneer at.

But more importantly, Google is signaling to others that it is mature enough to have entire administrations start using Apps.

This endorsement alone may prove to other states thinking about going Google that it can be done and that the risks can be mitigated.

While the cost savings and tighter infrastructure the cloud enables are big draws for administrations, these clients perhaps even more than enterprises fear change.

What's more, few are willing to risk their entire infrastructure on untested technology which has the potential of bringing the entire administration to a halt if it fails.