USDA to shift e-mail to Microsoft-based cloud service

CHICAGO – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is moving to a cloud-based system for e-mail, with its data being stored in Microsoft’s data center in suburban Chicago.

Cloud computing moves applications to the Internet, cutting costs and facilitating easier access to information. The USDA said it awarded a contract in May to Dell for Microsoft Online Services, aiming to move all of its e-mail, instant messaging and collaboration applications to the cloud.

The USDA said it is the first Cabinet-level agency to make such a move, and that it has been working with Dell and Microsoft during the past six months to migrate more than 120,000 users to the common system. Previously, employees were on 21 different e-mail systems.

Companies such as Microsoft and Google are competing to be the leading provider of cloud-based services to government agencies and other businesses. Last week, the General Services Administration announced it is the first federal agency to move its entire e-mail system to the cloud, using Google products. The agency said it expects to cut its e-mail costs in half over the next five years.

Microsoft’s data center in Northlake, Ill., opened in September 2009 and is home to thousands of servers that provide processing power and storage for the company’s cloud services.

Curt Kolcun, vice president of the U.S. public sector at Microsoft, said the Chicago center is one of the most heavily requested customer-visit sites for the businesses he oversees. The facility is a way to show senior government officials, state governors and other officials a tangible representation of the cloud, Kolcun said.

“Historically, many people would say that government is more risk-averse,” said Kolcun. “But in this case, they are leading the charge, not only in the move to the cloud, but what are the appropriate security standards that need to be implemented. They’re not just sticking their toe in the water. They’re moving forward in a big way.”