Tech News
Five more universities switch Google Apps Education Edition
By Steve Ragan
Aug 17, 2007, 16:00 GMT

Google has announced that five new universities are launching Google Apps Education Edition campus wide. Google Apps Education Edition is the hosted online rival that some say Google is using to compete with Microsoft and their office platform. The issue Google faces is that most schools and large companies are hesitant to leave the known office platform offered by Microsoft in order to use a hosted solution. The announcement from Google yesterday that five schools have been added to the Google Apps customer list is a positive sign for the search giant. 

The University of North Carolina Greensboro, Clemson University, University of Texas San Antonio, Kennesaw State University, and Arkansas State University will all implement Google's suite of Web-based applications that includes GMail accounts for students on their university domain. When universities sign-up for Google Apps, students, faculty, and staff get GMail powered email, IM capabilities with their contacts, and an online calendar that allows them to add classes and meetings right from the GMail interface. 

Google also announced that ads for faculty members using GMail through Google Apps Education Edition are now optional. Originally, that option was only available for students. With Google Apps, students get all of the known Google technologies and features. It is because almost all of these technologies are based on the Web, students have access to school-related information no matter what device they use. The collaboration viewpoint is Google’s strongest selling point outside of the features offered by using hosted services. 

To help schools learn more about this option, Google invited education leaders and IT professionals to hear from other universities that have made the switch to Google Apps Education Edition. The event, called Google@School, kicks off an effort by Google to work closely with schools and provide them a first-hand look at Google Apps Education Edition.

“Google has always had a close relationship with higher education,” said Jeff Huber, vice president of engineering at Google. “Google Apps Education Edition is a groundbreaking option for universities, and we want to work closely with them to implement smart use of technology for education.” Representatives from the universities announcing their decision to launch Google Apps were on-hand at the event to discuss with other participants why they are making the switch.

Schools all around the world are moving to Google Apps, Google said, including, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Trinity College in Dublin, Nihon University in Tokyo, Macquarie University in Sydney, and Universidad Panamericana in Guadalajara. However, schools are not the only major growth for clients. Several known and large companies have switched as well including Procter and Gamble, GE, and Salesforce.com.