Google to let Apps admins put the brakes on upgrades

From InfoWorld: Google will start letting Apps administrators delay the delivery of upgrades to their domains to give them a chance to prepare themselves and their users for interface or functionality changes.

Until now, Google has transparently pushed out enhancements to its Google Apps suite on a rolling basis as soon as they're tested and deemed ready for prime time, just like it does for its consumer applications and sites.

However, some Apps administrators, especially those in large enterprises, said they would like to get both a heads-up on upcoming changes and also a time buffer before the upgrades go live on their domains.

Thus, Apps administrators will now have the option of the "Scheduled Release" track for upgrades, which consolidates enhancements into a weekly or bi-weekly pack and slates them to go live on those domains with a delay of one of two weeks.

"This is a new release process for Google Apps that caters to the needs of our enterprise customers," said Rajen Sheth, Group Product Manager, Google Enterprise.

Along with the launch of the "Scheduled Release" track, Google is debuting a portal devoted to Apps upgrades and enhancements and designed to keep administrators better informed about this topic through resources like end user training material.

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