With the cloud having emerged as one of the principal battlegrounds in the IT sector, firms such as Google, Microsoft and a bevy of others are locked in intense competition to lure enterprise and public-sector users to their own brand of Web apps and services.
Microsoft scored a big coup in that contest when it landed the Kentucky Department of Education, which has announced plans to scrap some 180 of its own servers as it migrates to the software giant’s Live@edu cloud services for schools. Through the partnership, Microsoft will be providing students, faculty and staff with free cloud-based e-mail, instant messaging and storage. CIO Update has the details.
In what might be viewed as a victory for Microsoft and a loss for Google, the Kentucky Department of Education has signed up 700,000 students, faculty, and staff for free e-mail, instant messaging, and online storage running on the software giant’s cloud services.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) officials in a statement called the agreement “the largest [C]loud deal in the United States.” It may turn out to be the communications and collaboration model for education systems, and their IT staffs, in years to come.