Google Apps Premier Edition: Watch Out Microsoft Office

Check out the press release.

Features unique to Google Apps Premier Edition include:

• 10 GBs of storage per user – Offers about 100 times the storage of the average corporate mailbox, eliminating the need to frequently delete email.
• APIs for business integration – APIs for data migration, user provisioning, single sign-on, and mail gateways enable businesses to further customize the service for unique environments.
• 99.9 % uptime – Service Level Agreements for high availability of Gmail, with Google monitoring and crediting customers if service levels are not met.
• 24×7 support for critical issues – Includes extended business hours telephone support for administrators.
• Advertising optional – Advertising is turned off by default, but businesses can choose to include Google’s relevant target-based ads if desired.
• $50 per user account per year – Simple and affordable annual fee makes it practical to offer these applications to everyone in the organization.

In addition to Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk and Start Page, all editions of Google Apps now include:

• Google Docs & Spreadsheets – With this addition, teams can easily collaborate on documents and spreadsheets without the need to email documents back and forth. Multiple employees can securely work on a document at the same time. All revisions are recorded for editing, and administrative controls allow organizations to define limits on document sharing. According to custom analysis of Nielsen//NetRatings MegaPanel released this week, 92 percent of users of online productivity tools last October used Google Docs & Spreadsheets, making it the number one product in its class.
• Gmail for mobile devices on BlackBerry – Gmail for mobile devices provides the same Gmail experience – such as search, conversation view and synchronization with desktop version – on BlackBerry handheld devices for users of Google Apps. Gmail for mobile devices joins a list of other mobile options for Google Apps and BlackBerry users that already includes a Google Talk client and a variety of calendar sync tools.
• Application-level control – Allows administrators to adapt services to business policies, such as sharing of calendars or documents outside of the company.

Google has a long way to go to catch up with Office in terms of functionality and such, but they are headed in that direction.

Google Apps Premier Edition, to be unveiled Thursday, features online e-mail, calendaring, messaging, and talk applications, as well as a word processor and a spreadsheet. The launch follows Google’s introduction of a similar suite aimed at consumers last August. The new Premier Edition, however, offers enhancements aimed squarely at corporate environments.

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