The Australian Defence College (ADC) is running a pilot program of Google Apps designed to replace its Open Student Network.
The network would have required substantial cost remediation in future years, said the ADC.
The Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies (CDSS) and the Australian Command and Staff College (ACSC) are moving to a cloud-based platform for unclassified academic studies.
Google Apps is scheduled to be rolled out to CDSS and ACSC by November 2015.
Defence will evaluate the pilot program to determine its adoption and the application of cloud based services across other unclassified environments.
Google Apps will increase the ability for students to collaborate on joint tasks, said defence minister Marise Payne.
“Defence selected Google Apps following a detailed evaluation of market offerings. This is a proven platform that is already used by sections of the US military, UK government and a number of Australian universities,” she said.
The pilot program follows consultation with the relevant government agencies to ensure security and privacy issues will be managed in accordance with policy requirements, Payne said.