Google Apps offers it all, including Email with 2Gb storage per account, Docs & Spreadsheets that give you compatibility with Word and Excel, letting you create, share and collaborate on documents in real time, and a Google Calendar so you can stay organized, co-ordinate meetings and have sharable calendar.

It also includes Google Talk, giving you free instant messaging and voice calling and you can access it through your own ‘Start Page’ that gives you access to your inbox, calendar, Office type apps, group info a search box and other customizable elements.

For consumers, the suite is available free of charge as is currently the case, with a 2Gb limit, but the premium version, which offers 10Gb, giving users wanting more storage or for corporations wanting to replace their Microsoft Office suites the cost is US $50 per year – much less than the hundreds of dollars cost for each copy of Microsoft Office.

Companies will be able to use their existing domain name when setting up business version of Google Apps and won’t be forced to use the @gmail.com extension.

Of course one of the issues to consider is having all of your data stored on Google’s servers, and the privacy and other issues this raises no matter how strongly Google would assure all users that their data is safe, with at least one minor incident of data loss for some Gmail users that was reported a few months ago.

Such episodes should only have compelled Google to even greater heights of data protection to ensure any future blemishes on their reputation are kept to an absolute minimum, although when it comes to modern technology, the day when we truly get a 100% guarantee will be a day to celebrate!

Still, getting corporate customers on board will be key to demonstrating Google’s Apps are strong enough to support the needs of businesses big and small, along with everyday consumers.

So which companies have signed up to start using Google Apps right away? Read onto page 2 for the conclusion...