Google Schedules Road Trip To Show Off Google Apps Education Edition Tour

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 08/01/08

Loyola Marymount University, University of San Diego, Kent State University, and University of Virginia are among a dozen schools that have gone public with their adoption of Google Apps Education Edition. At the Campus Technology Conference in Boston Google announced that it counts a million users worldwide on campuses--both K-12 and higher education--using its suite of online services.

The company said it will be embarking on a tour in September in a renovated school bus running bio-diesel to show off its technology on campuses across the United States.

Google Apps for Education includes:

• Gmail, Google's e-mail client, which includes 6.5 gigabytes of capacity per account, IMAP and POP mail services, mobile access, and spam and virus protection.
• Google Calendar for personal and group scheduling.
• Google Talk, an instant messenger client that includes free calling over IP, a voice-mail box, and file transfer.
• Google Docs, which includes functionality for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations and offers mobile access.
• Google Sites, which provides team Web site development for sites that allow for the embedding of videos, images, and widgets.
• Start Page, a customizable home page with access to school information and widgets, including weather, Gmail, and news.

The company provides add-ons, such as Plus Message Security, which filters e-mail and does policy-based encryption, for $4 per user per year; and Plus Message Discovery, which includes Message Security, hosted e-mail archiving, Web-based administration, and archive search, export, and reporting, for $8.50 per user per year. The pricing reflects an education discount.