The state of Minnesota is moving a significant chunk of unified communications and collaboration services to Microsoft’s cloud-based offering.
As eCRM Guide reports, the deal, the state’s Office of Enterprise Technology (OET) will pony up for Microsoft’s cloud-based Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), reducing overall IT expenses and, hopefully, improving its efficiency.
According to the terms of the deal, Microsoft will host the state’s applications and data in a dedicated data environment and deliver the services via direct connection to the state’s secure network.
“The combination immediately improves our security and cuts our costs, making it possible for a digital infrastructure that can transform government into a 24/7 operation — even in hard times,” Gopal Khanna, Minnesota state’s CIO, said in a statement.
The state of Minnesota announced Monday it has signed a deal with Microsoft to use the software titan’s cloud computing services for unified communications and collaboration services.
Under the terms of the deal, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will provide the state’s Office of Enterprise Technology (OET) with its hosted Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS).
“The move makes Minnesota the first U.S. state to move to a large collaboration and communication suite in a private cloud environment,” the OET said in a statement.