State of Minnesota Signs Agreement with Microsoft for Single Email System

St. Paul, MN - The State of Minnesota has signed an agreement with Microsoft Corporation to provide a single email and calendaring system for the entire executive branch. This agreement calls for a phased migration of 25 individual agency-based email systems and three different platforms to the single enterprise system that will eventually replace all existing email contracts. Upon completion in 2010, 32,000 state employees will be on the new system.

In announcing the agreement, State CIO Gopal Khanna emphasized both its historic nature, and the benefits of an enterprise-wide system. "It has long been the goal of Governor Pawlenty," Khanna said, "to move to a more enterprise approach to IT services and to streamline overlapping functions. This is the first major consolidation project to reach implementation stage and is important both as a directional milestone and as a practical improvement to the state's IT environment. I am grateful for the hard work of many agency personnel in bringing this historic project to this stage. I look forward to working with our Microsoft partners in building a system that meets our needs."

By consolidating all email systems to a single system, inter-agency communications and calendaring are improved and simplified through the use of a statewide directory and a single, highly secure and redundant email system with 7/24/365 support. Users will be able to view and schedule meetings across agencies, and to send email to anyone in the system with simple drop-down menus.

The new system represents a significant security benefit to the state as well, offering state of the art encryption technology and single sign-on capabilities.

"By utilizing Microsoft enterprise technology, design and deployment services for this solution, Minnesota will be better able to prioritize projects, make strategic decisions, and deliver long-term value for the state's taxpayers," said Tim Wesley, General Manager of Microsoft's Central Region. "Streamlined email communications is critical to the business of any state and we look forward to helping Minnesota implement a single software solution that is going to improve government communications within a more secure environment."

The first phase of implementation, scheduled to begin immediately and run through 2008, will be managed by Microsoft Corporation under the direction of the Office of Enterprise Technology and a multi-agency steering team. Following a proof-of-concept test among several agencies' technology staff, full implementation will begin at five agencies - the departments of Administration, Revenue, Health and Agriculture, and the Office of Enterprise Technology. All agencies will have migrated to the system over the next three years.

"This enterprise email consolidation project has been a model of collaboration," said PG Narayanan, project executive sponsor and Assistant Commissioner of the Office of Enterprise Technology. Over 50 staff from 15 agencies participated in the planning and selection of the enterprise email system, through steering and working teams.

"The result of this teamwork will make Minnesota a national leader in email consolidation."