Swiss pharmaceuticals giant The Roche Group has chosen to deploy Google’s hosted email, calender and collaboration suite for its entire, 90,000-strong global workforce.
The company selected Google Apps because the separation between its current email and calendar systems is an "obstacle for effective collaboration", according to CIO Dr. Alan Hippe.
"Being able to deploy Google Apps by simply enabling them via a control panel versus planning for and deploying complex infrastructure in our data centers will help us focus on our core business – helping save patients’ lives," Hippe wrote on Google’s enterprise blog.
Hippe said that using Google Apps via the Internet would preclude the need for virtual private networks to allow secure access to self-hosted system, therefore reducing the IT department’s support burden.
"The integrated and socially-focused way that Google Apps enables collaboration is very compelling, and we expect this to not only bring our company closer together, but give us a strategic advantage," he wrote.
The announcement shortly follows Spanish bank BBVA’s decision to adopt Google Apps. The company will move all of its 110,000 employees on to Google Apps by the end of the year, making it the largest deployment in the world.
Rentokil and French manufacturing firm Valeo are also large customers, with about 30,000 seats each.
Google Apps has failed to win over customers in some areas though, with the LAPD cancelling its move to Google email service after it failed to meet FBI security standards.
