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Topic: Apps

Google, Los Angeles hit speed bumps on move to cloud

Summary: The city of Los Angeles' transition to Google Apps has hit a few bumps in the implementation of the project and that could mean a costly delay.

Sam Diaz

By Sam Diaz for Between the Lines |

Google and the city of Los Angeles have hit a speed bump in the full implementation of Google Apps into the city's various departments and the costs of a delay could top $100,000 - for Google.

Google had a June 30 deadline to get all of Los Angeles' city employees up and running on Google Apps but that didn't happen, according to a Marketwatch report. The Los Angeles city council was reportedly told the costs of keeping employees on that old Novell system while the kinks are worked out could exceed $400,000 but Google says the costs will be closer to about $135,000 and that it will cover them.

One of the key issues behind the delay: security concerns by the city's police department. From the Marketwatch post:

According to a report filed by the Los Angeles Police Department earlier this month, while a technology like Google Apps "may represent savings in hardware purchases and maintenance, and software administration, it also poses certain security concerns."

In particular, the L.A.P.D., which must meet California Department of Justice security requirements, said in the report that it had concerns about Google Apps' data encryption, "segregation of city data from other data maintained by Google," and background checks for Google employees with access to police department information...

In addition, department employees who have been using the software on a pilot basis have experienced delays in receiving their mail, according to the report: "Given that the L.A.P.D. is a 24/7 operation, which relies upon email/Blackberry notifications for public-safety-related incidents across the city, these delays are not acceptable."

Those are all valid concerns but the city of Los Angeles, in being one of the first to deploy Google Apps into an entire municipality, really should have expected a hiccup or two along the way.

A Google spokesman said that it is pleased the progress so-far on this first-of-its-kind project and that the company is working with the city and the integration company to address and resolve the concerns.

To date, more than 10,000 of the city's employees have been switched and another 6,000 should transition by mid-August. Work on moving the city's 13,000 police department employees will follow.

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Topics: Apps, Cloud, Google

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19 comments
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  • Pathetic

    Google is simply pathetic. Google had plenty of time and resources and yet they still fail. And such a simple task too. Once Apple finish dominating the consumer market and focus on the business market Google will be dead.
    iPad-awan
    Reply Vote

    • Kind of

      @iPad-awan - seems pathetic, agreed. Google had time but I'm not so sure about resources? Yes, they have money, hardware, etc - do they have right people for this kind of work, maybe not yet? They will learn but, as with some other large vendors, they are a little arrogant and think that they already know everything - well, good luck anyway!
      tuomo@...
      Reply Vote

    • Apple will have to take a number to dominate the world...

      @iPad-awan <br> <br>For years now, "it has been the year for Linux" (and I'm a fan of Linux). Linux called it first, so you Apple idiots will have to wait (go ahead, iPad-awan, hold your breath) for Linux to knock Microsoft of the enterprise throne, rule for a while, <i>then</i> it can be the "Apple in the enterprise"<br><br>But I will give you this as far as Apple "killing off" Google, I have been very impressed with Apple's search engine thus far!<br><br>BTW, this isn't Google's fail...this is LA's fail. One-third of the way into a migration and a department starts worrying about security???!!! Where were you during the planning stages? Didn't it cross your mind that your sensitive data was gonna be in the same Data Center as God-knows-what?<br><br>This is <b>STRIKINGLY</b> similar to the "iPhone/iPad in the enterprise" debate...forget the fact that employees will be on facebook, games, or other BS all day....some are trying to make the case that because these devices are the latest thing, and alot of consumers have them, well then they must perfect for the enterprise! Let's not worry about the fact that they are about a secure as a half-patched Win 2k box w/ no antivirus.<br><br>Both this LA gone Google and iPad in the enterprise are perfect examples of why [b]Fads need to be kept out of the enterprise[/b] Certainly out of government, banking, hospitals, etc.
      SonofaSailor
      Reply Vote

    • Nobody puts 'Google' and 'data security' in one sentence

      Another day, another victim of the "open platfrom" scam. <br><br>You don't let a fox guard your hen house no matter how protective it claims to be. You don't give the sensitive data to Google whose expertise is spying everyone's Wi-Fi, either. <br><br>Hopefully more and more people wake up to the "don't get caught while committing evil" IT Madoff scam.
      LBiege
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Google, Los Angeles hit speed bumps on move to cloud

        @LBiege

        Are you for real?
        How many major (and minor) companies entrust their human resources and financial data to third party business who can do it cheaper?

        answer: most of them
        rhonin
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Google, Los Angeles hit speed bumps on move to cloud

      @iPad-awan

      Get real.
      This is a "first of it's kind" endeavor and a lot of enterprises including city/goverment agaencies are taking a hard look at this.
      It behooves Google to slow down and get it right. The added cost will more than pay for itself in the long run.
      The concern of the LAPD is more along the lines of a "certification" to ensure that the security and segregation concerns are properly met.

      Let's watch and offer objective criticism, not juvenile commentary.
      rhonin
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Google, Los Angeles hit speed bumps on move to cloud

    As I point at Google and laugh, HAH HAH!
    Loverock Davidson
    Reply Vote

  • Google is the end to everything

    I really hope someone takes them out quickly before they have a chance to spread further. Google's wares are nothing but platforms to spy on people for nothing more than making money off of targeted advertising.
    The one and only, Cylon Centurion
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Google, Los Angeles hit speed bumps on move to cloud

    This one is really horrible
    Why public and government data should be trusted to the company which was caught in intercepting private wifi data?
    Maybe Google did not spied intentionally on citizen, but wifi Google scandals clearly demonstrated that Google does not have any control over which data it collect. Any engineer may collect data about citizen and it will be unnoticed for years.
    azaazaa
    Reply Vote

    • A logical assumption

      given Google's track record in regards to matters of privacy.

      :|
      Tim Cook
      Reply Vote

  • Hey, L.A., obviously you're in need of a competent CIO

    and, obviously a bum's nutsack could do a better job than whoever is currently wasting that seat's space. I promise you, I would be quite willing to negotiate salary!!!<br><br>They're just now focusing on security? What...did they just recently read a blog on ZDnet about Google Apps and realize their data was gonna be "in the cloud"? When this story broke months ago, the assumption was there were iron clad contracts, policies, and controls that allowed for and covered this sort of thing.<br><br>But, if that's not the case, here are some more pointers...um, don't allow your people to login as root or local admins; filter internet traffic to <i>some</i> degree; purchase an antivirus solution; maybe turn on outbound filtering at the firewall level? these kinds of things<br><br>This is <i>not</i> Google's fail...any migration, merger, transition is going to have it's hiccups, downtime, snags. This is L.A.'s fail...I mean, really?, a third of the way through and you start having concerns about security? <br><br>This is <b>STRIKINGLY</b> similar to the "iPhone/iPad in the enterprise" debate...forget the fact that employees will be on facebook, games, or other BS all day....some are trying to make the case that because these devices are the latest thing, and alot of consumers have them, well then they must perfect for the enterprise! Let's not worry about the fact that they are about a secure as a half-patched Win 2k box w/ no antivirus.<br><br>Both this LA gone Google and iPad in the enterprise are perfect examples of why <b>Fads need to be kept out of the enterprise</b> Certainly out of government, banking, hospitals, etc.<br><br>Of course, we are talking about the government here...the same institution that won't filter employees' internet traffic because the ACLU had a hissy fit. Maybe after the TSA gets hacked, we can re-visit and reach a logical decision?
    SonofaSailor
    Reply Vote

    • This is a Google and LA fail

      @SonofaSailor

      Seldom are the stake holders using IT services considered when massive changes are made. I am sure Google said-"Trust Me" we can do whatever security you need. The higher ups, not really understanding the lower level requirements said "Really?". "WOW!!". "Let's go with it".
      Bruizer
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Google, Los Angeles hit speed bumps on move to cloud

    It is totally incredible someone even considered moving the police department to the cloud. Police systems need a very high level of security and speed that you can't provide with a cloud solution. They should have updated the old Novell system to the most recent version of the software, then it would have done everything they needed. And it would have run on Linux.
    kees90210@...
    Reply Vote

  • How can you trust every Google employee?

    Sorry but that has always been the fly in the ointment with any cloud based solution.
    NoAxToGrind
    Reply Vote

  • Google CAN'T do enterprise

    LA on Exchange before the year is out is my prediction. At least then the city will be able to get some work done.
    hubivedder
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Google, Los Angeles hit speed bumps on move to cloud

    A lot of people seem to be forgetting the fact that in cloud based computing, copies of your data could be on servers anywhere in the world. What if a government of another country demands all data on a server located in that country, be handed over to its intelligence services? See the problem? The data is no longer under your control as soon as it enters someone elses cloud.
    Why Knot
    Reply Vote

  • It could be worse...

    L.A. could have been the London Stock Exchange.
    zkiwi
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Google, Los Angeles hit speed bumps on move to cloud

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  • RE: Google, Los Angeles hit speed bumps on move to cloud

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