Google just announced that they will sponsor 18 Drupal developer stipends in this year's Summer of Code program (SoC). Google provides a stipend of 5,000 USD to each student developer, of which 4,500 USD goes to the student and 500 USD goes to Drupal Association (or to the mentors). With 18 accepted applications this adds up to a 90,000 USD investment over a three-month period, bringing the total investment made by Google in Drupal through SoC to over $450,000 USD.

The accepted students, their projects, and the mentors are listed on the official Drupal.org announcement. Congratulations to all successful applicants, and thanks to the Drupal Summer of Code organizers, the Drupal mentors, and last but not least, Google. The summer is of to a great start!
 

Lullabot, one of the wide known drupal development company, has acquired Rapid Waters Development on March 01, 2010. This is a clear evidance of the growth of Lullabot beside its mounting project and drupal education.

Just 31 years old, Dries Buytaert already has an impressive hit list. He’s the creator of Drupal, an open source content management system, and CTO and founder of Acquia, which works with enterprise customers on Drupal projects. With 2 million downloads since inception in 2001, more than 750 developers have contributed code to Drupal 6, the latest version. There are more than 400,000 Drupal-based sites.

Acquia, which Buytaert founded in 2007 to bring Drupal into the enterprise, is backed by North Bridges Venture Partners, Sigma Partners and O’Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures. Enterprise-level companies using Drupal include Turner Broadcasting, Zappos and Sony.

Currently Buytaert and team are working on Drupal 7.
 

Drupal is becoming popular in government sectors and now The Department of Commerce (USA) is planning to replace its existing website with Drupal-based system. The Commerce Department is asking vendors to submit information about the difficulty and feasibility of adapting Drupal, according to a request for information the department published on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site on Nov. 27.

Recently I found BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) using Drupal for its magazine websites while checking out Dries buytaert's blog (Drupal founder).

• BBC Music Magazine
• BBC Countryfile Magazine
• BBC Focus Magazine
• BBC Who Do You Think You Are Magazine
• BBC History Magazine
• BBC Home And Antiques