Posted by Jeremy Milo, Google Apps Marketing Manager

Those of you who read the Gmail team's blog may have seen an announcement a while back about Gmail's faster, more flexible new codebase. The changeover was successful, and now we're rolling it out to the businesses, schools and organizations that use Google Apps.

More details about this update are on the Gmail blog, and you can keep up with future changes as they happen with the new RSS feed for Google Apps updates. To subscribe to the feed, click this "Add to Google" button.

Posted by Jeremy Milo, Google Apps Marketing Manager

Keeping up with the steady stream of updates and innovations can be a challenge for Google Apps administrators. Starting today there's a new source of information you can count on for details about every update. This info is available as an RSS feed. To subscribe to new updates and see a digest of past improvements, click this "Add to Google" button:



Let us know if there's something you'd like to see in a future update of Google Apps.  Your feedback helps us focus our progress.

Posted by Amanda Kleha, Product Marketing Manager

Here at Google Enterprise, we're always wondering what's on the minds of IT professionals and end users. So we asked them. An annual tradition started by Postini, this year's survey on message security and compliance was conducted by a third party and involved 575 IT professionals. Questions ranged from "What productivity challenges does IT face?" to "Who is responsible for security and data leakage?"

Not surprisingly, the majority of respondents (53%) believe that IT holds ultimate responsibility for their organization's communications security and compliance, as shown below. They also realize that organizations need to have policies and mechanisms in place to help achieve this.


These results and more are now available in a white paper called the 2008 Communications Intelligence Report. The report also includes sections on Google's expectations for security in 2008 and security and compliance best practices.

We hope these findings will help shed light on the forces that are influencing the growing adoption of software-as-a-service (SaaS), which is taking the place of in-house solutions that tend to require significant internal resources to maintain. The results suggest that one reason SaaS is gaining momentum is that the problems it solves are top-of-mind for IT departments, such as spending too much time or money on troubleshooting and maintenance.


By using service providers, organizations can offload capacity challenges, get real-time updates, and benefit from the economies of scale of a large network. And there's more good news: With Google's recent launch of new security and compliance products, organizations of all sizes can afford and easily implement best-in-class security and compliance.

Posted by Jim Payne, Product Manager

We're excited to announce a new product designed specifically for businesses who want to put Google Maps on their website: Google Maps API Premier. We've taken customer feedback and added several features to this product especially for companies:

- A SLA that guarantees 99.9% uptime
- Customer support for critical issues
- Customer control over ads

Not to mention all the benefits of the most intuitive mapping solution available, including high interactivity, driving directions, satellite imagery, terrain -- and street view in select cities, and fast performance, even on the busiest websites.

Google Maps is the #1 mapping site in the world, and more than 50,000 active sites use the Maps API -- including companies like Kayak, Ace Hardware, and Trulia. The new Premier product makes it even more attractive for companies to add Google Maps to their website. Especially in industries like retail, travel, real estate, and news where location information is critical to your customers' understanding of the products you are selling.

If you're interested, contact us and we'll let you know how to get on our maps.

Posted by Matt Kulick, Associate Product Manager

Google Apps users appreciate that their web-based Google Calendars are available anywhere and anytime, and packed with powerful sharing options. But people aren't always connected to the Internet, and they may prefer to use different applications (like Microsoft Outlook calendar) at their home or office. One of the biggest issues we hear from users is how hard it is to keep all of their calendars up to date.

Today, we're pleased to announce a tool to sync Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook calendar. If you add an event in your Microsoft Outlook calendar, it will automatically sync to Google Calendar and be accessible at any time, whether you're using a browser or a mobile phone. Similarly, if you schedule an event with a future pop-up reminder in Google Calendar, you will automatically see that reminder in your Microsoft Outlook calendar on your computer. Your Microsoft Outlook calendar and Google Calendar are automatically kept up to date, leaving you free to use whichever one you want.

We also want to ensure that your contacts see your calendar information only if you intend to share with them. You can set the default privacy level in Google Calendar to "private" so events synced from Microsoft Outlook calendar are marked private, and only you (or others who you've granted permission to view event details) will see them on Google Calendar. You can also choose to sync in just one direction if you prefer to keep your private data only in Microsoft Outlook calendar, or only in Google Calendar.

Google Calendar Sync is now available for free for all Google Apps users at http://dl.google.com/googlecalendarsync/GoogleCalendarSync_Installer.exe.

Posted by Rishi Chandra, Google Apps Product Manager

Today, information is created in all types of formats, such as documents, presentations, and even videos, and one thing we hear a lot from our customers is how hard it is for a company to organize all that information in one place. We know that making information easily accessible is an essential part of knowledge-sharing, so we're excited to introduce a new addition to our Google Apps product suite: Google Sites.

Google Sites makes creating a team website as easy as editing a document. You (and any number of other people in your organization) can quickly gather a variety of content – videos, documents, presentations, spreadsheets, calendars and more – and securely share it for viewing or editing with a few colleagues, your entire organization, or the world.

At the same time, we give administrators the control and security they need to ensure private content is kept private. And you get the benefits of Google's hosted platform: no hardware or software to install or maintain, so your organization can focus on your core business tasks.

Google Sites is now available for free in the Team, Standard, and Education Editions of Google Apps, and comes with Premier Edition for no additional charge. Existing admins can enable Google Sites immediately from the Google Apps control panel. To learn more about Google Apps, including how Google Sites can help your organization, we have plenty more information for IT administrators.

And if you already have a Google Search Appliance to search your corporate network, you'll be happy to know that you can use it to instantly search across your organization's Google Sites pages too. To learn more about this integration, visit Google Enterprise Labs.

Posted by Scott McMullan, Google Enterprise Partner Team

One of the steps every organization takes when adopting Google Apps is user provisioning. Quite simply, before users can log in, they need an account to log in to!

There are a number of methods a Google Apps administrator can use to add users, including one at a time and CSV file upload via the control panel, programmatically using the Google Apps Provisioning API, or via commercial identity management products like Sxip Access or PingFederate.

I'm pleased to share another option: the Apache 2.0 licensed Open Source Google Apps Provisioning Toolkit, created in collaboration with Google Enterprise Professional partner SADA Systems.

The Provisioning Toolkit was created for domains with many hundreds or thousands of users with requirements that fall in to one of two scenarios:

1. bulk provisioning from user information stored in an existing LDAP, SQL database, or CSV file
   
2. self-registration, where users input their own info and provision their own account using a web form

The Toolkit should run on any system that supports Apache, PHP, and Python, or any system that supports the VMware Player -- download here.

Once downloaded and configured via a preferences file, the Toolkit presents either 1) a web page that makes it easy for an admin to provision, update, and delete large numbers user accounts very efficiently, or 2) an authenticated web page allowing users to self-register. Note that while it can be used to create, update, and delete accounts, it's not designed for unattended sync of user information.

Here's a quick overview:



It's also worth mentioning the Toolkit joins a few other open source projects that work with Google Apps, including the Google Email Uploader for migrating Outlook mail to a Google Apps mailbox and the Google Apps LDAP Sync project.

Posted by Jeremy Milo, Google Apps Marketing Manager

Doing email, checking your calendar and accessing documents from mobile devices have become essential as more people around the world go online primarily from their phones, and as we all develop higher expectations for being productive from anywhere.

I thought it would be helpful to give a quick recap of how employees and students can use Google Apps when they're not at a computer, organized by type of device. Here we go....


Google Apps on BlackBerry smartphones

Gmail – The fastest way to use Gmail on your BlackBerry is with the installable Gmail application. To download and install Gmail for free, visit m.google.com/a from your BlackBerry web browser. Then, launch the application with the blue "M" icon () from your BlackBerry home screen or from the applications folder. If you also have a personal @gmail.com account, there's a separate free application (with a red "M" icon) so you can be signed in to both accounts at the same time.

Google Talk – There's a handy Google Talk application that lets you see who's online and instant message with contacts from your BlackBerry. To download and install Google Talk for free, visit www.blackberry.com/GoogleTalk from your BlackBerry web browser. Then, launch the application with the Google Talk icon () from your BlackBerry home screen or from the applications folder.

Google Calendar – You can sync information in Google Calendar with your BlackBerry calendar, so whether you add new appointments from your phone or from your computer, you always have access to your up-to-date schedule. To download and install Google Sync for free, visit m.google.com/sync from your BlackBerry web browser.

Google Docs – To access your documents and spreadsheets when you're not at a computer, you can sign in to Google Docs from your BlackBerry web browser. Just visit docs.google.com/a/your-domain.com, but remember to replace "your-domain.com" in this address with your actual domain name.


Google Apps on the Apple iPhone

Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs – These apps are available with a streamlined web interface, where you can easily bookmark a single web address and seamlessly switch between applications. Bookmark http://www.google.com/m/a/example.com from your iPhone's browser, but remember to replace 'example.com' with your actual domain name.

Alternatively, you can connect to your iPhone's Mail application to Gmail using IMAP for free. Learn more here and here about how to configure the iPhone's Mail application to do this.

Google Talk – You can instant message from your iPhone with Google Talk, too. Bookmark http://talkgadget.google.com/a/example.com/talkgadget/m from your iPhone's browser, but remember to replace 'example.com' with your actual domain name.


Google Apps on most other smartphones

Gmail – If your phone is Java-enabled, you can use the fast, installable Gmail application. To give it a try, download and install Gmail for free by visiting m.google.com/a from your phone's web browser. Then, launch the application with the blue "M" icon () from your phone's home screen or in the applications folder. If you also have a personal @gmail.com account, there's a separate free application (with a red "M" icon) so you can stay signed in to both accounts at the same time.

If your phone doesn't use Java, you can run Gmail as a fast web application. Visit mail.google.com/a/your-domain.com on your phone's web browser, but remember to replace "your-domain.com" in this address with your actual domain name.

Google Calendar – To run Google Calendar as a fast web application, visit calendar.google.com/a/your-domain.com from your phone's web browser, but remember to replace "your-domain.com" in this address with your actual domain name.

Google Docs – To access your documents and spreadsheets when you're not at a computer, you can sign in to Google Docs from your phone's web browser. Just visit docs.google.com/a/your-domain.com, but remember to replace "your-domain.com" in this address with your actual domain name.


Google Apps on many other less powerful phones

Gmail – If your phone is Java-enabled, you can use the fast, installable Gmail application. To give it a try, download and install Gmail for free by visiting m.google.com/a from your phone's web browser. Then launch the application with the blue "M" icon () from your phone's home screen or in the applications folder. If you also have a personal @gmail.com account, there's a separate free application (with a red "M" icon) so you can stay signed in to both accounts at the same time.

If your phone doesn't use Java, you may still be able to run Gmail as a web application. Visit mail.google.com/a/your-domain.com on your phone's web browser, but remember to replace "your-domain.com" in this address with your actual domain name.

Google Calendar – Depending on the model of your phone, you may be able to run Google Calendar as a web application. Visit calendar.google.com/a/your-domain.com from your phone's web browser, but remember to replace "your-domain.com" in this address with your actual domain name.

Alternatively, you can check your calendar, add events and get appointment reminders with text messages. Learn more about how this works here, here and here.

Google Docs – Depending on the model of your phone, you may be able to access Google Docs from your phone's web browser. Just visit docs.google.com/a/your-domain.com, but remember to replace "your-domain.com" in this address with your actual domain name.


Note: all of these mobile web interfaces, installable applications and text messaging features are free, but carrier charges may apply.

Also, the BlackBerry, Java, Apple, Safari and iPhone product and service names are the trademarks of their respective owners.

Posted by Jeremy Milo, Google Apps Marketing Manager

It's exciting to see just how quickly technology is accelerating, but the pace of innovation poses a challenge for decision-makers in schools and businesses. It's tough for them to keep up with escalating expectations about how technology should empower everyone to do more. A 2007 Yankee Group study notes that about 50% of professionals say that they'd be more productive at work if they had access to the kinds of tools they use in their personal lives.

This is why we're launching Google Apps Team Edition. The idea is to provide instant access to collaboration tools so team members can be more productive. With Team Edition, co-workers and classmates have an easier way to share documents, spreadsheets, presentations and calendar information within work groups, using Google's applications. To get started, one team member just needs to sign up with their work or school email address. After confirming they belong to their company or school, he or she can invite other teammates who haven't joined yet and start collaborating. There’s no hardware, software or setup involved for users, and no burden on the IT department.

But organizations need a level of security and control that individuals might not consider. To this end, Team Edition provides options so people can share information just with other members of their organization, and not with outsiders. Also, by verifying ownership of the domain, IT admins can customize the experience for their users, including who should have access, which applications are available and much more. You can learn about all the administrative capabilities on the Google Apps site for administrators.

Here's a quick video overview of Team Edition.

Posted by Sundar Raghavan, Product Marketing Manager

Managing email systems has never been easy, and for many businesses it only seems to be getting harder: Not only do you have to worry about increasingly complex email security threats, upgrades and patches, but archiving and e-discovery needs to meet regulatory requirements are also on the rise. We believe cloud computing can dramatically simplify this problem for our customers and reduce costs, and today we're taking another step to make it so.

We're launching three new security and compliance products on the Google Apps platform: Google Message Filtering, Google Message Security and Google Message Discovery. They're simple, powerful, and affordable for businesses of all sizes, and they work with any email system, from Lotus Notes to Microsoft Exchange to Novell Groupwise. They also take the hassle out of IT -- you can buy them online, enable them in hours, and protect your business immediately. No more worries about upgrades and patches either -- they're automatic. We believe in giving our users choice, so you can pick the service that best suits your needs and budget.

* Google Message Filtering ($3 or €2.00 per user/year) provides basic spam filtering for any email server.
* Google Message Security ($12 or €8.00 per user/year) provides comprehensive email security and policy management for inbound and outbound messages.
* Google Message Discovery ($25 or €17.50 per user/year) provides comprehensive security, policy management, archiving, e-discovery for any email server.

Read more about these packages.

Note that the prices are annual, making them affordable for any budget. More importantly, they address many of the security and compliance challenges our customers face today. Here are some examples:

* If you're using an appliance and running into spam leaks and mail outages, you can front-end the appliance/software with Google Message Filtering and realize performance improvements immediately.

* If you're worried about sensitive information leaking via email accidentally, you can use Google Message Security and implement content filtering policies and be assured your outbound email will be policy compliant.

* If you're using tape-based archives and struggling with email storage growth and e-discovery requests, you can simplify your life with Google Message Discovery. You can manage archiving in the cloud without storage capacity worries and respond to e-discovery requests using a browser.


We've designed these products to make your life easier and your emails more secure and compliant. They allow you to focus on your business and deliver value, not waste time fighting spam and archiving.

But don't take it from us. Check out what our customers have to say in the videos here, here and here. They're a handful of the nearly 40,000 businesses that rely on our technology to keep them compliant and safe.