St. Paul, MN August 29, 2011 - The city of Saint Paul will become the first Minnesota municipality to enter into a shared service agreement with the State of Minnesotas Enterprise email service.

The partnership signifies a new priority by the governor and state leadership to improve government service by leveraging inter-governmental collaboration and shared resources.

In his budget address at the Amsterdam Bar and Hall on August 15, Saint Paul Mayor Chris Coleman noted that the email partnership is among the key investments the city is planning for 2012, and expects the move to help maintain the quality of life Saint Paul residents have come to know.

Through a shared-services partnership with the State of Minnesota, in 2012 we will have 24/7 maintenance and support coverage, providing Saint Paul with a communications system we can rely on when we need it, Coleman said, in reference to the December snowfall event he dubbed Snowmageddon, which caused the citys email system to fail.

The State of Minnesotas Enterprise email service is one of the many services delivered by the Office of Enterprise Technology (OET) that can be leveraged by other local units of government in Minnesota. The current service offering is a highly secure and reliable solution that leverages some of the latest and best technology available in the market. As a result, the city of Saint Paul can expect improved security, increased collaboration, and more efficient use of time and resources.

This move furthers the Administrations efforts to reform government, making it work better for Minnesotans and saving taxpayers money.

State Chief Information Officer Carolyn Parnell outlined the importance of this move: Government entities, both state and local, need to look beyond the traditional boundaries for opportunities to leverage economies of scale and efficiencies for their operations and, by extension, for Minnesotans. It is essential that we find ways to work together on behalf of our common constituents the citizens of Minnesota.

The Office of Enterprise Technology has successfully migrated 35 executive branch entities and 40,000 email inboxes to the centralized email service to date, an effort that has improved and standardized communications within the State and lays the groundwork for a more global IT consolidation of the executive branch now getting underway.

The city of Saint Paul will migrate its 3,300 employee inboxes to the States email service sometime after its fiscal year begins on January 1.