Google introduced (in a press conference at its headquarters on July 27) its Google Apps for Government, which the search giant calls the first cloud computing app suite to receive the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) certification.

With the FISMA certification, federal agencies and groups will now have the latitude to more easily evaluate and adopt Google Apps.

Google announced plans to have Gmail and Google Calendar data for this service segregated into data centers that have been earmarked exclusively for government users in the continental US.

Commented Google on its blog: "With reviews of our security controls in place, government agencies can more easily take advantage of all the benefits of one of the world’s best cloud computing systems. Google’s cloud offers higher reliability, best-in-class disaster recovery and access to a steady stream of innovation -- all of which can provide substantial improvements over existing systems in addition to significant cost savings. And with no hardware or software to install and maintain, Google Apps for Government allows agencies to redeploy resources to technology projects core to their mission of serving the public. This new edition should give governments an even stronger case for making the move to the cloud."