Thin Client

new front has opened in the battle between Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.: selling Web-based email and other software to the federal government.

The two technology giants already compete to win contracts from private businesses as well as state and local governments. Such customers hope to cut costs by switching to Web-based software from programs installed on their own computers.

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Now Google and Microsoft are vying to take over the job of providing email to the General Services Administration, the U.S. agency that oversees government procurement and manages federal property.

Besides the contract's size —some 15,000 employee email accounts—the bidding is being closely watched because the GSA often helps shape how other agencies acquire new technology. "The GSA is in a unique position as an influencer," says Curt Kolcun, vice president of Microsoft's public-sector business.

In what vendors consider a key step, the GSA on Thursday certified that Google's email and word-processing service, known as Google Apps, meets security requirements to qualify for use by the agency, a GSA spokeswoman said.

Microsoft says it is close to obtaining the same certification for a Web-based version of Exchange, a widely used program for managing email that most organizations run on their own server systems.

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