SAN JOSE, Calif., and REDMOND, Wash. — July 15, 2013 — The City of San Jose has selected Microsoft Office 365, Windows Azure and StorSimple
to expand productivity of its more than 5,000 city employees, reduce
operational costs, and deliver improved services to over 984,000
residents in the Capital of Silicon Valley.
“The combination of these services supports both our long-term
technology strategy and the immediate needs of our employees and
residents,” said Vijay Sammeta, San Jose chief information officer. “We
turned to Office 365 for secured cloud productivity, which in turn will
help us lower our total cost of ownership and support a more mobile and
connected workforce of the future. The combination of Windows Azure and
StorSimple will enable us to streamline storage infrastructure support,
which enables our people to make the shift from basic backend operations
to citizen engagement and service delivery.”
Michael Donlan, vice president of state and local government,
Microsoft adds: "Ensuring the productivity of employees is critical when
state and local governments are constatnly being asked to do more with
less. Microsoft's cloud technologies not only support better
collaboration and enhanced productivity, but also afford cities like San
Jose the opportunity to do so in an environment that meets the security
and privacy needs our U.S. government customers require."
The investment in new platforms was approved in the recent adoption of
the annual city budget in June by the San Jose City Council.
“San Jose employees will have constant and consistent access to
documents, email and information through the cloud, enabling them to do
their job in a secured environment not restricted by their location,”
said Sammeta. “In addition, employees also will be able to collaborate
with each other in real time, improving efficiency and productivity,
which will ultimately benefit the community at large.”
Sammeta cited the specific benefits of Office 365 that include:
• Universal access to data virtually anytime, anyplace, and on virtually any platform
• Capability for mobile communications and remote collaboration, including videoconferencing
• Consolidation of “big data” into a single platform
• Improved data visualization tools
• Seamless integration with third-party applications
• Automatic software updates, lowering support and management costs
• Easy staff adaptation to cloud-based platform
“Instead of purchasing different products for various business needs
that may or may not integrate with one another, Office 365 provides us
with a complete solution that works both for today’s needs and offers
flexibility for addressing tomorrow’s,” Sammeta said. “By making this
investment in technology, our staff will have up-to-date,
enterprise-class cloud productivity tools, allowing us to catch up
several product generations at once.”
As part of the overarching goal to expand productivity while enhancing
citizen services, Sammeta and his staff recognized that streamlining
backend IT operations would be key to maximizing the city’s investment
and expected return.
By choosing Microsoft’s hybrid cloud storage solution of Windows
Azure and StorSimple to support their unique compliance and backup
requirements, the city’s selection of Microsoft’s enterprise cloud
services ensures that San Jose IT employees can spend their time where
it matters most.
“It comes down to the question of how we focus and leverage the talent
of our employees,” said Sammeta. “Do we work on activities that don’t
help us provide value directly to residents, or can we concentrate on
where we can achieve real impact?
“Because of the cloud, we now have the opportunity to transform our IT
business model so that we no longer have to deal with servers and
storage, and instead our employees can take advantage of new tools and
efficiency to benefit our broader community.”
Sammeta cited the specific benefits of Windows Azure and StorSimple that include:
• Major reduction in total costs for more than 70 TB of data
• One enterprise cloud solution across the city’s storage needs
• Seamless integration of cloud storage with local storage infrastructure
• Simplified processes for backup, restores and disaster recovery
• Minimal staff time required for backup and offsite cloud storage
The city’s transition to Microsoft’s enterprise cloud platform will
begin this summer, and implementation throughout the organization is
expected to take approximately six months.
“If you’re going to have a cloud strategy, you need to take a
holistic look at your workloads,” Sammeta said. “We know we are only
starting to scratch the surface of the benefits to come, which likely
will be more than just cost savings for IT. I’m looking forward to
opening the door to greater collaboration and removing technology
obstacles to our ability to innovate.”
San Jose is joining a number of other municipalities and organizations
focused on deploying Microsoft’s cloud-based productivity services that
help meet their unique security, privacy and compliance requirements,
including the City of San Francisco; Santa Clara County, California; the State of California; the City of Chicago; the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; the State of Texas; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; the City of Kansas City, Mo.; the City of Seattle; and the State of Washington.
More information about these services for business is available on the Office 365 and Windows Azure websites.
About the City of San Jose
Known as the Capital of Silicon Valley, San Jose is the nation’s tenth
largest city and the largest city in Northern California with an
ethnically diverse population of 984,000. San Jose was founded in 1777,
once served as the state capital of California, and now encompasses 180
square miles. The City’s website is www.sanjoseca.gov. Facts about San
José can be found here: http://www.sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/780.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize
their full potential.
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Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of
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other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.
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