Here’s one for the "states are laboratories of Web innovation" file: The folks at Acquia have produced a white paper about the state of Georgia, which moved its entire Web presence, including 55 state agency websites, over to an open-source and cloud-based Drupal system in 2012.
Drupal is an open source content management system that serves as the backbone for a number of federal websites, including the White House site. Open source Web tools are often cheaper and easier to upgrade than their proprietary counterparts.
A spokesman from Acquia, which managed the changeover, confirmed Georgia is the first state to move entirely to Drupal. The change is projected to save the $4.7 million over five years, Acquia said.
Most federal agencies are still a long way from moving their entire Web presences to Drupal or similar open source systems, partly because agencies tend to have a much larger Web presence than states that include more legacy systems.