Kentucky Department of Education: State Department Avoids $6.3 Million in Costs With Cloud-Based Messaging System

The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) provides services to the 174 school districts across the state and sought to improve communication and collaboration for teachers and students. KDE upgraded from Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 to a cloud-based Microsoft Outlook Live solution, available through Microsoft Live edu and powered by Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. KDE conducted the upgrade to 700,000 mailboxes overnight, giving individual districts choices in how to structure their messaging. The upgrade relieves KDE staff, students, and teachers from mailbox size limitations and gives them the flexibility to extend the learning environment. KDE has reduced its management burden and increased system reliability because the messaging environment is maintained in the cloud by Microsoft, and it has avoided U.S.$6.3 million in costs over a four-year period.