Google intros Team Apps edition to bypass the IT department..

Google released a new edition of its hosted applications suite that end-users can bring into the workplace without the involvement of their IT department.

The new release, called Google Apps Team Edition, is available for free. It is aimed at employees who are interested in using Google Apps but whose employers haven't signed up for it.

So far, more than 500,000 mostly small organizations have signed up for Google Apps, but the other versions -- Standard, Education, Partner and Premier -- require IT to implement the suite because its services are linked to an organization's Internet domain.

Once signed up with Team Edition, people can see who else in their organization's Internet domain is also a user, and invite those who aren't.

Read more here:
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/020708-google-intros-apps-edition-to.html

Check it out here:
http://www.google.com/apps/business/index.html