Today, Google introduce a new edition of Google Apps designed specifically for the needs of U.S. government entities. It’s called – appropriately enough – Google Apps for Government. [...]]]> Last September, Google announced their intent to create a Google Apps environment dedicated to government customers, and to complete United States government security certification for Google Apps. Today, this vision was deliver.

Today, Google introduce a new edition of Google Apps designed specifically for the needs of U.S. government entities. It’s called – appropriately enough – Google Apps for Government. This new edition is available now to federal, state and local governments in the United States.

Google Apps is also the first suite of cloud computing applications to receive Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) certification from the U.S. government. With this federal government certification of our security controls, government agencies can use our cloud services with confidence.

A wide range of U.S. government customers are already taking advantage of Google Apps, from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Berkeley Lab to the U.S. Navy’s InRelief program, to the City of Los Angeles, to smaller governments across the country like Panama City, Florida and the City of Wooster, Ohio.

The next time you log in and visit the Settings page, you’ll see a rich text editor in the signature section. Here, you can customize your signature by adding [...]]]> Rich text signatures have long been one of the most widely requested features. Now users can change the colors or font size of your signature, or insert images and links.

The next time you log in and visit the Settings page, you’ll see a rich text editor in the signature section. Here, you can customize your signature by adding pretty formatting, links, and images — or decide to leave things nice and simple.

With Google Docs you shouldn’t have to give up any routine features when you switch to web-based applications, and Google has been addressing many longstanding requests across Google Docs with this [...]]]> Google Docs new editor is now the default editor for all Google Apps users. This impressive new interface has been an opt-in feature of Google Apps since April 2010.

With Google Docs you shouldn’t have to give up any routine features when you switch to web-based applications, and Google has been addressing many longstanding requests across Google Docs with this release that were not feasible with older browser technology. Documents support better formatting options like a margin ruler, better numbering and bullets, and more flexible image placement. Spreadsheets now have a familiar formula editing bar, cell auto-complete, drag-and-drop columns and more.

Higher fidelity document import

It should be easy to move files saved on your computer to the cloud, so Google made document upload feature much stronger. Imported documents keep their original structure more accurately, so you can spend less time adjusting files you move to the cloud.

Speed and responsiveness

Browser-based applications shouldn’t force you to compromise on performance either, and the new architecture is much faster than before. Working with very large spreadsheets is even snappy now. Web apps really can feel just as fluid as traditional software.

Faster collaboration

Collaboration has always been Google Docs’ forte, and the new codebase is a leap forward here, too. The applications support up to 50 simultaneous editors, and documents let you see other people’s changes character-by-character as they type. Finally, there is multi-user editing to drawings too, so now you can build flow charts, schematics, and other kinds of diagrams collaboratively.

Firstly the phone itself is a HTC Desire running Android 2.1. This is important to know because some apps and features are not available on earlier versions of Android. Where this is the case I’ll [...]]]> This is an overview of the way I use my Android phone and some of the useful apps I’ve added to it.

Phone and Operating System

Firstly the phone itself is a HTC Desire running Android 2.1. This is important to know because some apps and features are not available on earlier versions of Android. Where this is the case I’ll try and highlight it. The HTC device also comes with a custom interface or skin called Sense which has some peculiarities compared to the stock Android interface.

Google Apps Integration

When I first configured the phone it asked me to choose a Google account. This would be used to synchronise my contacts, email and appointments. I chose to use my Google Apps account rather than a generic Google or Gmail account because that’s where most of my data is held. Once the first configuration is complete though it is possible to add more Google accounts.

Email

For email I primarily use the built-in Google Mail app. This is for two reasons:
1. It allows me to use the labels I have already set up.
2. I can switch between different Google Apps accounts within the same app.

The only downside to using the Google Mail app is that it doesn’t fully integrate with some of the features built into the HTC Sense interface. For example it won’t show you how many emails there are with a specific contact when you’re viewing their details.

It is possible to use the native email application with Google Apps by selecting your Google Apps domain as a Microsoft Exchange server.

Contacts

Contacts are automatically synchronised with my Google Apps contacts, this includes those from multiple accounts. So I can keep personal contacts under my personal Google Apps domain and work contacts under a different work domain then they all come together in my phone.

Contact groups are also synchronised from Google Apps. You can choose which groups you want synchronised with your phone so if you want to leave some out you can do so. I don’t bother with this because I want my phone to have all the same information I have on the web.

Calendar

As with the web version of Google Calendar I can choose which calendars I wish to see on my phone. If I have an appointment at a specific address I always make sure I’ve entered the details into the Location field of an appointment. When a recognised location is present the appointment details show an icon which will load Google Maps with the location selected. For a route between two places I write the location in the form “start location to finish location” which populates Google Maps with both locations, then it’s a simple matter of following the directions.

I also use the calendar to store details of flight or train times and numbers. By making an appointment at the departure time with the flight number details I always have easy access to this information when needed. I do the same with hotel bookings; placing the reservation and contact details for the hotel in an appointment slot that corresponds to my arrival.

Other Apps

Google Goggles – this app uses the camera to recognise objects and search for information about them. So for example you might photograph a company logo and it will search for details about the company. One key feature though is its ability to recognise details on a business card. So if someone hands me a business card I can quickly photograph it and Google Goggles will enter the details as a new contact in my phone, which of course then gets synchronised back to Google Apps.

Google Translate – this isn’t quite as useful as the web version which is so well integrated into things like chat and gmail but it’s still very useful to always have a translation tool available.

Navigation – since Android 2.1 Google has included turn-by-turn navigation integrated with Google Maps. This effectively replaces the need for a separate Sat Nav device and because you can enable Street View you can easily recognise your destination when you get there.

WiFi Analyzer – this is incredibly useful if you’re having trouble with WiFi as it can show you a graph of WiFi channels so you can see which has the strongest signal or if there’s a gap in the spectrum you could use.

Calendar Quick Add – this allows you to add events to the calendar using the same natural language input that you can use in the web version. What’s more it also support speech recognition so you can dictate your appointment.

National Rail – lets you check train schedules quickly. It can remember your favourite and recent journeys plus it has a widget for departure information.
Just For Fun

Shazam – this amazing app can recognise music tracks it hears through the microphone and shows you information about the track. A handy cheat for spot the intro music quizzes!

Widgets

The Android home screens can be populated with widgets which offer additional functionality or sometimes are cut-down versions of apps. For example there’s a Facebook widget which shows the latest post from your firends and allows you to post status updates but doesn’t do much else; you’d need to open the Facebook app to do more.

HTC Sense has some advantages here because it provides widgets that can be scrolled, something native Andoid can’t do.

People Widget

– the HTC People widget can be displayed in different formats from whole screen to just one icon size. I use two copies of a long thin view on one of my home screens. One contains my co-workers and the other contains my favourite personal contacts. This allows me to quickly contact the people I need to call or text most often. Each contact can be set with a default action; call, text, email etc. I usually set my contacts to display the details then I can choose what I want to do.

Composites One is the leading distributor of composite materials in North America.  The organization’s products include fibers, resins, and a wide range of chemicals and accessories used in manufacturing.  Its 32 distribution centers serve over 8,000 customers across North America and Asia, and the company prides itself in providing the best quality materials, exceptional local service, and personalized [...]]]>

Composites One is the leading distributor of composite materials in North America.  The organization’s products include fibers, resins, and a wide range of chemicals and accessories used in manufacturing.  Its 32 distribution centers serve over 8,000 customers across North America and Asia, and the company prides itself in providing the best quality materials, exceptional local service, and personalized support.

Business Need

As the organization continued its growth, Composite One’s personnel had expanded to approximately 400 employees in over 30 locations.  Regarding its IT email and messaging platform, the company had been a Novell GroupWise user for over 15 years.  However, continuing down the GroupWise path seemed like an increasingly costly obstacle.  In almost all the organization’s separate locations, there were separate file servers; this was valuable to the extent that mail was regulated locally instead of having to travel through the home hub network.  All in all, Composites One utilized a highly decentralized mail system, and keeping up-to-date with GroupWise required imminent, major upgrades to all servers in all locations, license renewals, and significant time and effort by the IT department.  Furthermore, users were not even satisfied with the functionality of the GroupWise platform and a large-scale change in IT started to seem like the best course of action.

With all these factors in mind, Director of IT, Hal Greene, began seeking a solution that would meet 3 criteria: a wide range of improved functionality, mobility capacities and major cost savings.  A number of employees within Composite One’s IT group had had some personal experience with Google Apps and recommended the platform as a possible alternative.  Hal then attended the 2009 Enterprise Summit and found that many IT executives had very positive things to say about Google Apps.  For the remainder of 2009, Composite One’s IT team began discussing with Google and Cloud Sherpas the possible migration to Google Apps, and eventually pitched the idea to the Composite One executive team.

“Cloud Sherpas are one of the best Google Enterprise partners in the world.  We are proud of the relationship we have with Cloud Sherpas and of the success the Cloud Google Migrator from Cloud Technology Solutions has given them.” Steve Kaye: CEO, Cloud Technology Solutions

Solution

A few months later, Composite One began a pilot phase with Cloud Sherpas by taking a group of 32 users (which encompassed the entire IT team) and having these key users experience Google Apps first.  Cloud Sherpas also conducted admin and end-user training to accelerate the learning process of migrating to a new IT platform.

However, perhaps the most integral assistance that Cloud Sherpas provided was in the application of the Cloud Google Migrator from Cloud Technology Solutions, the only tool to-date that can be widely-used to migrate organizations to Google Apps from Novell GroupWise.  Cloud Sherpas seamlessly transferred all of Composite One’s data to the cloud, and Hal Greene had this to say about the process:

“When it comes to this data, it’s so important to people; this is their work and what they’ve been doing for years, so it would’ve been unacceptable for them to no longer have access to this data.  So it was very helpful to have Cloud Sherpas be there and help us through the migration process.”

Benefits

The pilot phase was successfully completed within 2 months, and while Cloud Sherpas maintained a co-existence system that allowed users to function from both Google Apps and Novell GroupWise.  Composite One went on to migrate users in increments and aims to have all users on Google Apps within half a year.

As Cloud Sherpas additionally provided mobile access to Google Apps, Composite One’s goals of moving to a platform with greater functionality, mobility capacities, and major cost savings seemed to be fulfilled.  As Director of IT Hal Greene concluded:

“We’re really glad to be on Google Apps now, and to the extent that we ran into any confusion, the Cloud Sherpas team was very knowledgeable and very helpful.  I did think that their role throughout the project was quite impressive.”

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