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Google signs up biggest cloud client yet
Rentokil is set to use Google Apps to handle communications between 35,000 of its employees as part of a five-year IT restructuring programme, making it the largest firm to use the search giant’s cloud-based services to date. Google says that around 1.75m small and mid-sized businesses use its Google Apps product to manage their email systems. But few are in the same league as Rentokil, which recently entered the FTSE 100.
Rentokil says that using Google works out between 50% and 70% cheaper than other in-house options examined, but insists its decision to abandon standard solutions was not driven primarily by money.
“We felt the fastest way we could deliver the mail solution to the group was through the cloud," Rentokil CIO Bryan Kinsella tells Reuters. "The challenge for us has been creating capability, actually more importantly than cost saving."
The addition of Rentokil is a milestone in Google’s attempts to become a major player in the burgeoning cloud computing market. Firms such as IBM, Amazon and Microsoft are also making an effort to establish a strong presence in the cloud computing market, which is expected to double in size over the next year.
Rentokil’s decision to use Google as an email provider comes at a bad time for cloud services rival Microsoft. The company’s Danger subsidiary recently admitted that it has lost all the data stored on behalf of 1m T-Mobile Sidekick owners.
