Computer network security

By Steve White, Cybersecurity Architect, Microsoft Enterprise Services’ Cybersecurity Team

The General Services Administration (GSA) announced last week that it is closing around a dozen telework sites across the D.C. area. Thanks to the ubiquity of powerful mobile computing devices (laptops, smartphones and now tablets) and broadband Internet access, GSA rightly argues that "telework has become less about where work gets done and more about how work gets done." The Obama Administration is encouraging GSA and other federal agencies to facilitate employee telework whenever feasible.

On a related note, Federal CIO Vivek Kundra told an AFCEA gathering last week that the current federal model of owning, managing and maintaining legions of desktops running a core configuration is incredibly inefficient and “mind-bogglingly” expensive. How expensive? The GSA telework sites currently serve about 300 federal employees at a cost of about $3 million a year – averaging $10,000 per user.

His solution? Give every federal employee $2,000 to buy their own equipment. The thinking is that employees’ personal devices are often faster and more powerful than the devices agencies provide.

The big question is, of course, how do you secure all those devices?

To help further this discussion, Microsoft and GovLoop are hosting a two-part interactive training series on cybersecurity and the mobile federal workforce. We’ll examine recommendations for agencies trying to successfully balance security, privacy and productivity and talk about the experiences some government agencies have had deploying these solutions.

The first session, Common Mobile Challenges and How to Overcome Them, kicks off this Thursday, March 10 at 2 p.m. ET. If you’re interested, register here – we’d love to hear your stories and learn your insights!

By Curt Kolcun, Vice President, Microsoft U.S. Public Sector

By now everyone knows that cloud computing has the potential to save federal agencies money, but determining the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a cloud solution is easier said than done. It’s easy to fall in love with low sticker prices, but to determine true cloud TCO and ROI, you have to dig deeper. Initial licenses typically represent a very small percentage of costs, which means agencies need additional information in order to get the most value for taxpayer dollars.

The key is to identify the hidden costs that come along with a cloud solution that isn’t enterprise-ready. By that I mean solutions that weren’t built with the workplace in mind. A lot of communications and productivity cloud offerings are good enough for consumers, but they don’t have the security, functionality, or support options that complex organizations demand. The last thing agencies want is to be stuck with a consumer product that requires a bunch of expensive add-ons from additional vendors to meet enterprise requirements. In addition to the upfront costs, internal IT teams must install, test, deploy, manage, and support each add-on, which requires a significant ongoing time and resource investment.

Let’s take security and archiving for example. Federal agencies deal with sensitive public information and have the highest security standards in the world. They also have archiving requirements and strict data retention policies that must be met. If your solution doesn’t allow you to encrypt messages or designate a file as confidential, you’ll have to add third-party tools. Another example is data integrity. Documents must remain consistent as they move in and out of the cloud, especially when dealing with draft legislation, documents that require watermarks, or any government document that can’t afford to be altered. If a solution can’t guarantee that fidelity, it’s another add-on that keeps upping your TCO.

And this is before you factor in support costs. If your cloud tools don’t come equipped with 24/7 voice support, the burden to fix problems is on you when service is disrupted. That takes time and a lot of online research from an internal support staff, combined with the productivity losses that occur while the solution is down.

There are migration costs. There are installation costs. There are training costs. It’s certainly not cut and dry. We encourage every government organization to really do their homework here. Agencies have different needs, and different existing investments, but an inexpensive solution can become pricy very quickly if it’s not made for the enterprise.

By Curt Kolcun, Vice President, Microsoft U.S. Public Sector

The public sector just continues to innovate. I’m here in Redmond to kick off our 9th annual U.S. Public CIO Summit and I’m surrounded by technology leaders that have aggressively researched and implemented emerging technologies to better serve citizens. Just today we announced 16 new public sector cloud customers, including the the City of Virginia Beach, the City of Winston-Salem, NC, Portland, Oregon Public Schools, Vanderbilt University, and the City of Alexandria, VA.

When combined with federal agencies like USDA and the Army, and states like California and Minnesota, it’s not difficult to see the trend - some of our biggest, most sophisticated government organizations are finding incredible value in cloud computing.

The momentum we’re seeing is about limiting infrastructure costs, paying for only what you use, being able to rapidly scale, but also enabling improved data sharing and collaboration capabilities. The benefits are clear, but our customers are rightly demanding an “enterprise” approach. The agility and flexibility of the cloud model can’t come at the expense of security, or functionality, or privacy or IT support – the missions of government and education are just too important.

So this week is about sharing best practices and learning from each other. The IT landscape is changing rapidly and the public sector has unique compliance requirements that technology providers and government agencies must navigate together. We even brought out Microsoft CIO Tony Scott to discuss challenges he faces making technology decisions on behalf of a large, complex technology company like Microsoft.

As of today, we’re serving more than 190 state and local government cloud customers in nearly every U.S. state, and a total of more than 3 million government employees are using Microsoft Online Services. These adoption rates are incredible and government is proving that it’s a market that can assess and deploy emerging technology rapidly in order to serve taxpayers more efficiently. Stay tuned to FutureFed this week for more cloud best practices from public CIOs, and follow the discussions as they’re happening on Twitter (@FutureFed) using the #USPSCIO hashtag.

By Susie Adams, Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft Federal

The benefits of cloud computing are widely known – scalability, flexibility, pay-as-you-go consumption model – but determining which assets belong in the cloud, and what cloud environment they should be housed in, can be challenging.  To shed some light on migration best practices, Federal CIO Vivek Kundra outlined a federal cloud computing strategy last week and it contains some extremely useful information for agencies.   

As my colleague Larry Grothaus pointed out in a recent blog post, Kundra’s report states that “an estimated $20 billion of the federal government’s $80 billion in IT spending is a potential for migration to cloud computing solutions.” So ¼ of what we currently spend on IT could be managed more efficiently, and for cost-effectively, in a cloud environment.  But beyond recommendations, the strategy document provides some much-needed education for federal decision-makers.  Kundra outlines various options in this rapidly-changing IT environment we’re all trying to navigate, including public, private and hybrid cloud models. 

At Microsoft we were excited that the report included the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its successful case studies section.  The USDA recently selected Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) for its email and productivity applications, and the agency has extremely valuable migration lessons to share – from calculating ROI to evaluating security requirements.  Not only does the USDA expect to save an estimated $6 million a year by migrating to a cloud-based productivity solution, but the agency gains efficiency benefits by leveraging the latest communications and collaboration tools, including SharePoint, Office Communications and Live Meeting online services.

Cloud computing continues to transform the way government is serving the American people, and we want to use this blog as a place to gather best practices.  Check back in next week for posts on calculating cloud total cost of ownership (TCO) and ensuring your cloud solution is “enterprise-ready”, and capable of delivering functionality that federal agencies demand.

By Rodrigo Becerra, Managing Director of eGovernment, Microsoft

“The future is ours to win. But to get there, we can't just stand still. As Robert Kennedy told us, ‘The future is not a gift. It is an achievement.’ Sustaining the American Dream has never been about standing pat. It has required each generation to sacrifice, and struggle, and meet the demands of a new age.  And now it's our turn. We know what it takes to compete for the jobs and industries of our time. We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world”.

- President Obama (excerpt from the 2011 State of the Union Address) 

In his State of the Union address last month, President Obama outlined the incredible challenges we are currently facing as a nation.  Technology has changed our entire economy, requiring citizens to rapidly adapt to stay competitive.  The transition has been difficult for some, but this innovation also presents us with incredible opportunity.  People are connecting in ways that were never possible before, and it’s transforming both business and government.  For the first time in history, governments are able to directly engage with extraordinary numbers of citizens in real-time.  Not only does this improve government’s ability to distribute information, but it allows our democracy to gain from the collective wisdom of the population.   

We’re just scratching the surface of the possibilities for “crowdsourcing” in government.  A truly open government takes advantage of the wisdom of crowds by making public data available (transparency), collaborating with citizens (engagement) and putting the best ideas into action (participation).  Transparency builds confidence in government and improves the quality of public debate.  People want to know where their taxes are going, and how the government is allocating resources.  Engagement creates platforms for innovation and yields collective wisdom.  Participation empowers citizens and ensures that initiatives are in line with the will of the people.  All of this is driven through collaborative technologies, and we’ve seen incredible examples like Recovery.gov and Miami 311.

An open government also lays the foundation for an open society, and an environment conducive to enabling innovation and education to prosper.  That’s what Microsoft is trying to accomplish through GovCamps, a joint initiative we’re pursuing with Barry Libert, Chairman of Mzinga, a social software company, and author of the books Social Nation and We Are Smarter Than Me; and Zachary Tumin, Advisor, Harvard Kennedy School of Government. GovCamps provide governments with a playbook for open government, designed to start conversations amongst elected officials, educators and citizens on how technology can improve transparency, citizen engagement, and citizen participation.  These conversations then continue with GovJams, monthly, topic-oriented, open discussions that will take place on collaborative tools like Microsoft TownHall and Microsoft SharePoint Server, which can help maintain strong levels of engagement and participation. 

GovCamps have already resulted in successes around the world, like the passage of legislation in Mexico ensuring government IT transparency.  The United States is a clear leader in open government, but it’s imperative that we keep developing new technologies that support its vision.  The best ideas are out there, and now we have the technologies to collect and implement them.   To become a part of the discussion, check out the opengovernment20.com community that will launch at the end of February.

By Joe Rozek, Executive Director, Homeland Security and Counter Terrorism, Microsoft

The big game is this weekend, and nearly 200,000 football fans are expected to flock to the Dallas, Texas area to be part of this year’s Super Bowl.  That enormous influx of people brings excitement and a boost to the local economy, but it also poses unique security challenges.  The Super Bowl has become a “level one” national security event in the eyes of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which means that the only team more dedicated to this game than the Packers and Steelers is the Arlington, Texas Police Department. 

Cowboys Stadium

Ensuring the safety of football fans involves stakeholders ranging from federal agencies like DHS to the Texas Department of Public Safety, but the host city’s law enforcement professionals are always at the center of the action, coordinating the entire effort.  National events like the Super Bowl are unique because of the sheer volume of information that must be managed.  More people requires more resources to track, more personnel to manage, and more crime tips to investigate.  Communications, collaboration and intelligence analysis processes have to be seamless and real-time. 

To support this incredible security effort, the Arlington Police Department is partnering with Microsoft and ESRI to make information collection and analysis more efficient.  A tool called Fusion Core Solution (FCS) will be used to centrally track resources, personnel, and leads on suspicious activity.  The real benefit comes from analysis and collaboration, because officers can search through requests, log updates based on new information, identify trends, collaborate in real-time with other law enforcement agencies, and leverage mapping/visualization technologies to make sense of critical data.  It’s the second year in a row that host city of the Super Bowl is leveraging the technology, and customers are finding value in it because FCS allows law enforcement personnel to focus on keeping people safe, rather than spending valuable time and resources sifting through raw data. 

Arlington, TX via Bing Maps

The Arlington, Texas Police Department has done an incredible job preparing for this year’s Super Bowl and we hope everyone enjoys the game on Sunday!  

By Lewis Shepherd, Director and General Manager of the Microsoft Institute for Advanced Technology in Governments

Mobile, mobile, mobile.  It’s the future of technology.  Smartphones and tablets have already changed our lives, enabling us to communicate, collaborate, and access applications from devices that fit in our pockets.  The next decade is poised to bring even more sophisticated computing experiences on-the-go, but what about when we’re not on-the-go? 

If you think about it, devices can be limiting as well as empowering.  We don’t always want to experience reality through a tiny screen held up in front of our face.  It’s certainly not the ideal way to experience entertainment, and the future of “room-based” or “area-based” computing has the potential to be just as exciting as mobility.  Kinect got a lot of attention at CES earlier this month, mostly as an innovation that will change the face of gaming, but it has incredible implications for entertainment, business and government as well.   

The beauty of Kinect is that it communicates like humans communicate.  The most popular feature is the motion tracking (it understands gestures), but its speech recognition is just as impressive.  It also visually recognizes people.  When I walk into my living room, Kinect knows it’s me due to my body type and facial features.  After I’m recognized, it automatically pulls up my stored preferences – like my favorite Web sites, my Twitter feed, and entertainment options.  The next step will be bringing online collaboration software into the mix – managing documents, checking calendars, paying bills and chatting in real-time using the biggest screen in your home or office.  Imagine doing these things without a laptop, without a keyboard!     

So what does this mean for government?  The most obvious impact is in training and simulation.  Our DoD customers are very intrigued by Kinect’s ability to place personnel in a completely distinct, immersive 3-D environment and track decision-making through movement.  It holds the same power in healthcare.  As my colleague Chris Niehaus pointed out in a related blog post, the medical community sees incredible value in areas like physical therapy, telemedicine, medical training and neurocognitive practices.  Imagine practicing surgery on virtual human patients, measuring physical therapy progress in real-time, or showing your doctor where something hurts from a remote location.    

Soldiers trying out Kinect at the 2011 Military Health System (MHS) Conference this week in Washington, D.C.

Beyond the training and simulation possibilities of “area-based” computing, there is the potential to transform citizen services.  Take the DMV for example.  Right now, in order to renew our license or get new plates, we have to go to a physical DMV location to confirm our identities, update paperwork or take an eye exam.  With Kinect, this could all be done from your living room, or from your office during your lunch break.  The ability to authenticate identities in a virtual space using body and speech recognition software could also radically change the way we secure our government IT systems.  Rather than having to remember a 12-digit password to access protected data, the proper agency personnel would be automatically recognized and granted access based on physical features.   

Area-based technology is really only limited by our imagination, so if you have other ideas on how Kinect can be used to support government, leave them below!   

By Alban de Bergevin, Manager, Mission Critical and Cloud, Microsoft Federal

There is a devastating affliction sweeping across the country – it’s called data overload.  Executives from both industry and government are being targeted, but they are finding they can’t hide from “big data”.  Complex enterprises like federal agencies are struggling to store, search, analyze and understand the exploding amounts of information they manage in order to make more informed decisions.  A study released last year by Kelton Research confirmed this, revealing that 56 percent of C-level executives from industry and government feel overwhelmed by the amount of data their organization manages. 

To help federal executives combat data overload, Microsoft and HP have created a series of data appliances designed to optimize productivity and improve decision-making.  The goal was to quickly and efficiently deliver application services like business intelligence (BI), data warehousing, online transaction processing and messaging.  These are services that have traditionally taken months to roll out, that are now available to organizations in weeks or even days.  Appliances save time and money because they eliminate the need to buy hardware and software.  Organizations no longer have to spend time planning their architectures and deploying their software – they can focus that time on meeting business or mission goals.   

So what does this mean for federal agencies?  In addition to using BI tools for insights into how to serve citizens more effectively, or messaging tools for better collaboration, federal CIOs now have a quick path to creating their own private cloud.  The HP Database Consolidation Appliance is capable of consolidating hundreds of databases into a single, virtual environment, and agencies can migrate data and applications at their own pace.  Leveraging the power of virtualization, agencies can manage data more efficiently in support of Vivek Kundra’s goal of eliminating 800 federal data centers by the year 2015.  By bringing previously disparate databases and servers together within a virtual environment, we can consolidate the total number of data centers required to serve the federal government.

For more information, please visit the Microsoft News Center and please leave any feedback or questions below!

By Dan Kasun, Senior Director, US Public Sector Developer Evangelism

In October, we launched the Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Federal Application contest, encouraging developers, partners and hobbyists to submit Windows Phone applications for federal employees.  It was a high bar, as developers not only had to come up with solutions that solve a specific federal need (i.e., for federal employees, federal agencies, or citizens in a federal scenario), but the application had to be deployed into production on the Windows Phone Marketplace as well. 

The response we received was incredible!  36 applications were submitted for review – all very high quality and targeting some very unique solutions.  Of course, there can only be 9 winners, and this week the contest judges announced them – all of which will be featured on Zune Marketplace.  

This was a unique opportunity to tap into the incredible talents of our citizen developers, and they delivered, creating a great variety of applications that facilitate citizen engagement, increase transparency and improve access to government services.  All of the applications are available to download from the Windows Marketplace right now – so feel free to check them out personally.

We’d like to thank all of the developers who submitted applications – a marketplace rich with useful government-oriented solutions is good for everyone.  For those who are considering writing an app with a “government” slant, make sure to check out the State and Local Windows Phone 7 Apps Contest which just got underway!   

Without further ado - here are the winners:

Congress 411 - provides easy access to information for every member of the United States Senate and House of Representatives.

Relief Central - includes the World Factbook from the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Field Operations Guide from USAID, MEDLINE Journals, and Relief News from the CDC, Red Cross, FEMA, ReliefWeb, and more. This free resource delivers up-to-date information to assist those sent to disaster sites.

Homeland Security - puts the Homeland Security Advisory System at the tip of your fingers. The Homeland Security Advisory System provides real time access to the Threat Level Alert.

Airport Status - allows citizens to look up a US airport and see if the airport is currently experiencing any delays. In addition, the current weather conditions for the selected airport are displayed, as well as a map of the airport location and turn-by-turn driving directions from your current location.

Congress - allows users access information about their elected Congressional representatives - read their news stories, view their tweets and watch their videos.

Most Wanted – provides an extension of the FBI’s Most Wanted lists by encouraging users to contribute to the FBI’s hunt for these criminals.  Citizens are able to submit tips to the FBI that are also geo-tagged to help agents follow up on these leads.  This first-of-its-kind solution enables on-the-go submissions of tips to law enforcement directly from a mobile device.

rGov - provides access to the latest recall news provided by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) including podcasts.

Recovery.gov - puts the power of the Recovery’s website in the hands of the American citizens. The application leverages the use of the Recovery’s social media presence, including Twitter, Facebook, and the Recovery Blog, and brings the visual power of Recovery projects to the people as photos are shared from all across the country.  Recovery.gov hand delivers the latest Recovery news and project reports, offers the ability to search for local projects, and increases accountability and transparency. 

United Nations News – allows citizens to keep in touch with the latest news from the international community, tracking global events and initiatives from around the world. This app offers a global narrative through an abundance of articles, photos, videos and radio broadcasts.

Congratulations to our winners of the WP7 Federal Application contest! We will be posting more details on these solutions here on FutureFed and look out for additional Twitter updates on @FutureFed.

By Curt Kolcun, Vice President, Microsoft US Public Sector

U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra presented a visionary plan last week for the future of federal IT, which focused on cloud computing or “light technology” as a major key to driving IT transformation.  Technology is one investment that can actually save taxpayer dollars while boosting productivity, but Kundra noted that government has been too reliant on “large, custom, proprietary systems” that are expensive to build, inflexible to changing needs, and siloed from other systems.  Cloud computing addresses each of these challenges.  “Light technology” allows you to pay only for what you use, scale quickly according to demand, and share information more efficiently.   

To prevent waste associated with unused computing resources, the administration is calling for consolidation and sharing.  The federal government is currently operating 2,094 data centers, which illustrates how siloed and disparate government data really is.  We have to start distributing those resources across federal agencies more efficiently, so in addition to decreasing the number of federal data centers, Kundra has outlined an innovative plan for sharing availability.  Much like diners securing restaurant reservations through Open Table, this online marketplace will match agencies looking for extra computing capacity with existing data centers that have availability.  Just imagine the efficiencies this tool will drive!   

The private sector has had great success leveraging cloud computing for increased output and customer satisfaction while lowering the cost of doing business.  Government can achieve the same goals.  Kundra’s 25-point plan referenced Cash for Clunkers as a perfect example of a great idea that failed because its technology couldn’t scale to meet demand.  It’s an example we’ve discussed on this blog before, and I believe the program could have succeeded if it had been supported in a cloud environment.  These are the lessons we’re learning in federal IT, and the results support the “Cloud First” policy the administration is advocating for. 

The great news is that serious progress is being made.  Both GSA and USDA have recently announced plans to migrate e-mail and collaboration systems to the cloud, and USDA is expecting to save $6 million a year based its implementation.  Kundra also cited the successful efforts by the Department of Interior’s IT leadership to consolidate 13 previously disparate email systems in the cloud, saving $36 million over the next 5 years and enabling personnel to send agency-wide communications for the first time.   It’s an incredible accomplishment, and another example of government technology leaders bringing innovation to bear on our most pressing IT challenges.  The future is bright in the world of government IT! 

By Curt Kolcun, Vice President, Microsoft US Public Sector

The past few months have marked a transformative time in government IT, with the State of California, the State of Minnesota and New York City embracing cloud computing.  And now that momentum is carrying into the federal sector, as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today that it will become the first cabinet-level agency to move its e-mail and productivity applications to the cloud.  USDA will transition 120,000 federal workers from on-premise messaging and collaboration to Microsoft’s BPOS-Federal cloud computing solution over the next four weeks.  The migration to the cloud is part of USDA CIO Chris Smith’s vision to consolidate disparate messaging environments onto a single, unified platform, which will reduce costs, boost workforce productivity and improve communications and collaboration across the agency.

USDA is an incredibly complex enterprise, with a distributed workforce, 27 sub agencies, and a broad mission that touches everything from homeland security to food safety.  Organizations like USDA require enterprise-grade collaborative capabilities like global address lists, full calendar synchronization, presence and video conferencing.  Through the power of the cloud, USDA personnel will have better access to information and improved data sharing capabilities, all while reducing computing costs and building on existing investments. 

The Microsoft Federal team is excited to be working with the USDA on this groundbreaking implementation.  Chris and his team at USDA were looking for a cloud-based solution that was flexible, reliable, and secure.  We know that government data is unlike any other data, which is why it’s essential that agencies know exactly where their information is being hosted.  We built BPOS-Federal specifically for government agencies that require the highest levels of security, including a guarantee that all data will be housed in a dedicated infrastructure, located and maintained within the United States, and accessed only by US citizens that have undergone rigorous background checks.  Our 25 years of experience serving government customers has confirmed what we’ve always known – security and privacy features must be baked into solutions from the ground up.  It’s no different in the cloud, which is why our cloud solutions meet the highest security standards that exist today, including FISMA, ISO 27001 (the highest international standard for information security), SAS 70 Type I and II.    USDA has also granted FISMA Authorization to Operate (ATO) for the Microsoft cloud infrastructure, certifying that it provides a trustworthy foundation for cloud services.

For more information on this exciting federal cloud implementation, check out the feature story on the Microsoft News Center which includes insight from USDA CIO Chris Smith!

By Susie Adams, Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft Federal

When I talk to federal CIOs about cloud computing, most of their questions focus on security and privacy.  Where is the data being hosted?  Who has access to it?  What controls are in place to protect my sensitive information?   In many cases the answers to these questions are difficult to obtain.  At Microsoft we take security and privacy very seriously and believe that the best way to answer these questions is to be open and transparent about our approach to certification and accreditation, risk management and day-to-day security processes.

Take our datacenters for example.  Datacenters are the foundation of any organization’s approach to cloud computing, and we’ve built our datacenters to comply with the strictest international security and privacy standards, including International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 and SAS 70 Type 1 and Type II.  

This week we’re extremely happy to announce that Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure also received its Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA) certification from a cabinet-level federal agency.  Adding FISMA to our existing list of accreditations provides even greater transparency into our security processes and further reinforces our commitment to providing secure cloud computing options to federal agencies.  The authorization was issued to Microsoft’s Global Foundation Services, the organization responsible for maintaining Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure for all of our enterprise cloud services - including the Business Productivity Online Services - Federal (BPOS-Federal) offering as well as our Office 365 suite of services.  Our BPOS cloud productivity offerings are also in the process of being FISMA certified, and we expect to announce full compliance at the FISMA-Moderate level very shortly. 

My colleague Mark Estberg posted a  blog entry yesterday that goes into more detail about what this means for government organizations considering cloud deployment.  When combined with our existing security policies and controls, FISMA compliance ensures that customers are benefiting from highly-focused testing and monitoring, automated patch delivery, cost-saving economies of scale, and ongoing security improvements.  We’ve incorporated the testing and continuous monitoring processes required by FISMA into our overall information security program, which is described in several white papers located on our Global Foundation Services website.   

Specifically I’d like to call out three papers that describe our comprehensive approach to information security and the framework for testing and monitoring the controls used to mitigate threats: Securing the Cloud Infrastructure at Microsoft, Microsoft Compliance Framework for Online Services and the Information Security Management System for Microsoft Cloud Infrastructure paper that gives an overview of the key certifications and attestations Microsoft maintains.

For more information on FISMA and its importance, check out the National Institute of Standards and Technology website and Mark Estberg’s full post on the Global Foundation Services Blog.

By Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Microsoft Federal 

Financial regulations are a lot like technology standards. Both seek to put rules in place that even the playing field and eliminate waste and abuse. Both make use of independent, third party organizations focused on protecting consumers or organizations. And both seek to increase transparency and accountability without hurting innovation. The financial legislation that President Obama signed earlier this year dealt with lending best practices, and that’s a topic that affects many of the organizations we work with in the federal community, including small businesses and farmers.

The Farm Credit System was created by Congress in 1916 to provide farmers and ranchers with reliable access to financing. AgFirst Farm Credit Bank is one of the organizations that serves the U.S. agriculture community through this system, offering funding and back-office support applications to lenders that assist over 80,000 farmers across the country. To help improve the services AgFirst’s customers are able to offer to the folks that grow the food we eat every day, they’ve deployed a really cool hosted Dynamics CRM solution.

When you think of CRM technology, you don’t immediately think of the agriculture community, but it’s driving incredible efficiencies for lenders. In the past, individual farm data often resided in IT silos, in physical file folders, or in account managers’ brains. During staff turnover a lot of that customer information would be lost or difficult to locate, and service would suffer. Lending to the agricultural community requires a close partnership based on the evolving needs of a particular farm. CRM solutions are an efficient way to bring all necessary account data into a centralized location, which maintains that organizational knowledge. In the case of AgFirst, staff now have access to data from across the entire client list, and that frees account experts to get out into the field and meet with the farmers they serve. And because the solution is hosted, lenders access apps on a pay-as-you-go basis, saving on infrastructure costs that come with building and operating an on-premise IT system.

Our partner Customer Effective built the AgFirst CRM solution, and it’s a great example of how technology can save federal organizations money during tough economic times. Other government agencies like the Small Business Administration (SBA) have used similar solutions to provide resources to citizens and constituents in more efficient ways.

For more background on the AgFirst project, check out this video on the tangible benefits the organization has achieved!

By Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Microsoft Federal 

Improving productivity means getting more done in less time. It’s something we all strive for every day.  It’s creating higher quality, more valuable work, more efficiently.  So how do you get there?  We all have our favorite software tools that help us create documents in less time, but in my experience, the best way to improve productivity is to improve the way we interact and collaborate with colleagues.   

Large, complex organizations like federal agencies need to bring the right expertise together on behalf of mission goals.  It’s essential to have the right people sharing ideas and brainstorming to solve government’s biggest challenges.  But it can sure be time consuming.  Scheduling conference calls, locating contact information, managing schedules, etc.  We spend a lot of our day figuring out the best ways to work together.  Improving those processes frees us up to focus on the important stuff, which is why I’m extremely excited for Lync 2010 and its benefits for federal agencies. 

Launched yesterday in New York City, Lync brings instant messaging, presence, video and voice tools together to help colleagues connect in simpler, more meaningful ways.  For me the exciting part is that it’s easier to have an actual face-to-face conversation with coworkers, even when you aren’t in the same state or country.  And new functionality makes getting the right people on the phone is so much simpler, whether it’s through an expertise search, location information or real-time contact method preferences.    

Those of us in the federal market know that worthwhile solutions also have to make the best use of taxpayer dollars, which is why I’m excited to report that Forrester Consulting recently published a Total Economic Impact report that found Lync 2010 offers customers 337% ROI with a payback period of 12 months.  That’s improved productivity. 

For more information, I encourage everyone to check out this video of Bill Gates talking about Lync’s benefits, along with Kirk Koenigsbauer’s blog post on his favorite features! 

By Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Microsoft Federal 

We shouldn’t wait for Veterans Day to thank our service men and women for the sacrifices they’ve made on behalf of our nation, but it’s great to have one day where we collectively honor them.  I want to send a personal thank you to every U.S. military family.  You are modern day heroes and the backbone of our country. 

There are soldiers returning from Iraq right now, and while offering gratitude is important, we also must provide veterans with the resources they need to be productive members of the civilian workforce.  There is an underreported crisis going on in our country right now – 10.6 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are unemployed, compared to 8.8 percent of nonveterans.  Since 9/11, approximately 1.9 million troops have returned to civilian life, and over 190,000 are currently unemployed.  That’s a shocking statistic.  Times are tough for everyone, but they can be particularly tough for highly-skilled soldiers that are entering a new work environment that often requires a different set of competencies.  The best way to say “thank you” to our service men and women is through skills-training to help make every veteran’s transition a successful one.     

Over half of today’s jobs require technology skills, and that number is expected to dramatically rise over the next decade.  Soldiers possess technology skills that many of us can only dream of having, but they also need support in translating that knowledge to new roles in the workforce.  The USO of Metropolitan New York has launched an initiative to provide software and IT skills-training to veteran support groups across the country.  In addition to training, these resources will be used for job placement, career counseling, and other services such as childcare, transportation and housing to help military families thrive as they make this challenging transition.   I am proud to say Microsoft is supporting the USO’s effort and we encourage other technology companies to partner as well.

And for those veterans specifically interested in careers at Microsoft, we’ve also launched a site called WeStillServe.com that matches former military members to job opportunities within the company.  The site has some cool tools, including a “Military Job Decoder” that deciphers appropriate roles at Microsoft based on previous military experience.  

We all need to create paths of success for the folks that sacrifice the most for our nation.  Military unemployment can’t be tolerated, and we need everyone to spread the word about this issue and the resources that are now available to returning veterans.  The USO is among the leaders in this charge and we all need to get on board.     

By Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Microsoft Federal 

In the information age, communications and collaboration technology can be the difference between success and failure on the battlefield.  Military leaders need the ability to access and share data in real-time, through a variety methods and devices, in order to make the best decisions in support of mission goals.  The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) refers to “information dominance” as an essential component of keeping the United States safe, and that situational awareness comes from connected systems that enable secure, flexible communications.  In its Campaign Plan 2010 vision document, DISA states that information dominance can only be achieve if, “enterprise services for command and control, collaboration, information sharing, and computing are provided over a global infrastructure that is assured, reliable, diverse, high capacity, and protected against physical and cyber attack.”

Disconnected systems lead to poor collaboration and delayed response times – costs that DoD can’t afford.  About two years ago, DoD Chief Information Officer John Grimes signed a memo advocating for the military to begin testing the use of Internet for all communications.  This is the central idea behind Unified Communications (UC), or the creation of connected experiences for all personnel around voice, video, text, Web conferencing, chat, and e-mail.  UC integrates real-time communications and enables information to be received in the way that makes the most sense for someone at a particular time.  This is obviously crucial for warfighters that are making enormously important decisions based on the best information they have at the time. 

UC is something we’re extremely passionate about at Microsoft, especially when it’s impacting the safety of armed forces personnel and American citizens.  Just last week we learned that our Office Communications Server 2007 had received Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) certification from DISA, which means we’ll be able to field our UC technology to solve DoD communications and collaboration challenges.  We’ve already received so much interest from military personnel and we can’t wait to get started.  Unified Communications has changed the way large organizations share data, and DISA and DoD have proven once again that they are on the cutting-edge when it comes to deploying information sharing technology in the field.     

By Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Microsoft Federal

Government agencies are being increasingly challenged shrinking operating budgets, and in this economic climate public sector leaders are looking for technology investments that will save their organization money.  CIOs interested in adopting cloud computing are going to have to make a business case for cloud investment, which is the topic that the MITRE Ahead in the Clouds Forum addressed in October.  I’ve pasted my full response below, but I encourage everyone to check out the Forum for insight from other respondents!  

October’s Question:  For Federal IT leaders considering building a business case for a cloud computing investment, please identify the general cost categories/drivers to include in a business case, and if possible, suggestions on approaches for attributing value to new cloud features.

This is a question that every government technology leader must deal with when evaluating cloud computing options. What's the ROI? Is this going to save us money? The short answer is unfortunately – "maybe".  In general, cloud computing offers cost benefits through increased efficiencies, pooled IT resources and "pay-as-you-go" models. But when making the business case it's important to distinguish between different types of cloud offerings, because matching the unique needs of an organization to the right type of solution is the best way to maximize ROI.

The first step is identifying the right cloud level to implement at – whether it’s at the infrastructure level, the platform level or the software/application level. For example, GSA recently announced that government agencies would be able to access Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) offerings through Apps.gov. IaaS options are great for agencies that want to get out of the business of buying servers, data center space or network equipment. It’s an entire IT infrastructure in a pay-as-you-go model, but it still requires general administration and maintenance.

For agencies that want to remove IT maintenance completely, SaaS is the way to go. SaaS allows organizations to consume finished applications on-demand, and is typically far less expensive than software that includes a licensed application fee, installation and upgrade costs. Now if an organization has internal developers with the skills to build customized applications, Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) becomes the best option. Government is seeing an explosion of Gov 2.0 application development for improving citizen services, and PaaS provides developers with the tools they need to test, deploy, host and maintain applications in the same environment.

Organizations have options and each model follows the same basic ROI principle – you only pay for what you use. A pay-as-you-go model combined with very limited upfront costs creates a low risk environment where organizations have the freedom to innovate. If an application or program is successful, cloud offers the scalability and elasticity to incrementally grow as needed. If a program or application doesn’t catch on, the upfront investment was already extremely low. For example, it’s interesting to think about how a program like Cash for Clunkers may have been different in a cloud-based model.

Every organization has to crunch its own numbers to evaluate the cloud solution that makes the most business sense, but the number of cloud options and reduced implementation risk make the current IT environment ripe for innovation. That freedom should be factored into any ROI discussion.

By Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Microsoft Federal 

The GSA made big news last week when it announced that federal, state, and local government agencies would be able to purchase infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) offerings through Apps.gov.  The news is important because building and maintaining IT infrastructure is expensive!   According to a recent article by Nick Hoover (@iweeknick) at InformationWeek, about 20% of the federal government’s $80 billion IT budget goes towards infrastructure costs.  That’s a significant chunk of IT spending, and by making IaaS solutions available online, agencies can take advantage of the scalability, elasticity, resource pooling and pay-as-you-go benefits of cloud computing. 

The new contract allows top cloud vendors to provide agencies with services like storage, virtual machines and Web hosting.  For example, Microsoft has partnered with Insight Public Sector under the new contract to offer agencies Web hosting and data storage through the Windows Azure platform.  The goal is to allow government customers to pay only for what they use, scale up when they need capacity, and reduce usage when they don’t.  It saves taxpayer dollars because it’s a more efficient way to consume computing resources, and it occurs within a secure environment with over 99.9% uptime.  We handle all of the patches and maintenance so that CIOs can focus on the strategic decisions that impact their missions. 

What an exciting time to be a part of Federal IT!  Apps.gov is such an incredible resource for agencies, and with initiatives like this the GSA continues to facilitate adoption of cloud computing across government. 

By Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Microsoft Federal 

New York is without a doubt one of the most influential cities in the world, and thanks to a groundbreaking technology announcement today, it promises to also be one of the most efficient.  At a press conference this morning, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled an IT modernization initiative that will save New York City taxpayers millions of dollars in the coming years, in addition to improving citizen services and expanding information sharing capabilities across City agencies.  As part of the project, 30,000 City workers are moving to the cloud, accessing communications and collaboration tools (email, instant messaging, conferencing, etc.) hosted in a Microsoft datacenter facility.  This hosting model is significantly less expensive than if the City were to host its own applications, and workers will have access to more productivity features, more functionality and the highest levels of security.  

The initiative, led by Mayor Bloomberg and NYC’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, is really about consolidation and taking advantage of shared resources.  Like many cities and many large enterprises, New York’s current IT infrastructure is challenged by fragmentation and siloed technology.  City agencies are maintaining their own IT environments, which is expensive and limits data sharing opportunities with other government organizations.   This project aims to centralize resources like servers and databases across agencies, efficiently distributing computing power and allowing systems to talk to each other. 

The agreement will also greatly expand New York’s Gov 2.0 capabilities!  With more residents than any other city in the country, it’s essential for New York to have tools in place to collect citizen feedback and distribute important public information.  For example, the City has expressed significant interest in using technologies like Town Hall to facilitate online discussion groups with engaged constituents.  Cloud technologies will also make open government datasets available to the public, increasing transparency and allowing citizens to build new applications based on public data.  If there was ever a U.S. city that could benefit from crowdsourcing, it would be New York and the 8 million residents that have a stake in improving their communities.     

This is a major step for New York City in terms of getting the most for taxpayer dollars and providing citizens with a more efficient and effective government.  New York is tackling our country’s biggest challenges – from healthcare to social services to education – and this IT modernization initiative will transform the way the City delivers services.   

For more information on this exciting announcement, visit the NYC website!

By Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Microsoft Federal 

What does it mean for a solution to be “enterprise-ready”?  For Federal agencies, it’s about the highest levels of security, collaboration across working groups, pooling resources for cost savings, and accessing productivity tools from any location.  Government leaders are increasingly adopting cloud computing because it’s a revolutionary model for achieving these goals in an efficient way. Cloud solutions like our BPOS offering were designed with this “enterprise-ready” vision in mind, and today Microsoft announced the next evolution in cloud productivity – Office 365.

In today’s Federal climate, budgets are shrinking but missions are expanding.  Federal CIOs are being asked to accomplish more with fewer resources, and technology is the one investment that can be a force-multiplier while reducing costs.  Productivity tools empower government workers to get more done in less time, and Office 365 brings the best tools together under one roof - in the cloud.  Office 365 takes the solutions agencies use on a regular basis – like Sharepoint, Exchange, and Office –and combines them in one solution to form the technology backbone of the modern Federal agency.  It includes the latest communications and collaboration tools, and works seamlessly with the world’s most popular phones, browsers and software.  Office 365 can also be customized for unique agency needs.  For example, if you only want Office, you can access only that tool in the cloud, and you pay only for what you use.

We know that none of this matters to government leaders unless data and applications are secure, which is why Office 365 adheres to the industry’s most rigorous security and privacy standards.  We take our responsibility seriously to deliver powerful and easy-to-use applications that meet the government’s rigorous security and privacy needs, and we are humbled by the fact that nearly every Federal agency and arm of the DoD trust Microsoft Office, Exchange and SharePoint today. For government agencies looking to make the jump to the cloud, like Minnesota and California recently have, we think Office 365 provides the enterprise-ready features needed to chart that path in the way that makes the most sense for each individual agency. 

Beta starts today, so reserve your spot here!   I’d love to use this blog to collect feedback from the Federal community!      

By Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Microsoft Federal 

It’s no secret that government organizations, from the local sheriff’s office to the biggest federal agency, are facing shrinking budgets.  Public sector leaders are being asked to meet mission requirements with less funding, and more and more CIOs are turning to cloud computing as a way to drive efficiencies and lower operations costs.  Governments are finding that they can’t afford not to explore cloud options, and the latest public entity to join the cloud club is a big one – the state of California. 

When the government of the most populous state in the country heads to the cloud, it really shows the value that large public organizations are seeing in hosted computing.  And an enormous, complex state government like California has many of the same IT challenges that a federal agency has – the need to increase transparency, deliver citizen services more efficiently, reduce energy usage, and improve information sharing.  Cloud computing facilitates solutions to these challenges, and can be a real difference-maker as public sector leaders navigate through this extremely difficult economic environment. 

The blog post below was written by Gail Thomas Flynn, Microsoft’s Vice President of State and Local Government, and goes into more detail about the benefits California will realize through this statewide cloud implementation.  

By Gail Thomas-Flynn, Microsoft US State & Local Government Vice President

As governments continue to deal with persistent budget pressure from what the AP has called the ‘Great Recession’ state and local governments across the country are looking to take advantage of technology in an effort to reduce spending and streamline operations while providing uninterrupted citizen services. In 2009, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his Governor’s Reorganization Plan, which consolidates statewide information technology (IT) functions under a single agency to enhance coordination of IT projects and cost savings.

Today I’d like to point out how California continues to take advantage of the power of the Microsoft platform to realize these goals. Specifically, the State of California has selected Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) to host a state-wide, cloud-based version of our popular email services. Nearly 80 percent of California agency email systems now operate on Microsoft Exchange email servers, and under California’s continued commitment to the Microsoft platform and roadmap, and alongside our partner CSC, hundreds of disparate systems and datacenters will be consolidated in a cloud environment, resulting in reduced operational costs and improved efficiency.

Several state agencies and entities are already in the process of migrating their existing on-premise services over to Microsoft’s cloud services. For example, the City of Carlsbad recently moved its email and collaboration services to the Microsoft cloud after determining that our hosted environment offered a higher degree of security than they could provide internally. After considering other cloud providers, these state entities and the State of California ultimately chose Microsoft for its ability to provide enterprise-ready service for hosting their users with the highest levels of security, support, and reliability as well as the total cost of ownership (TCO) standards the state needed.

Along with several educational institutions in California, state agencies and departments have made a commitment to many of the current and future Microsoft online solution offerings. By moving to Microsoft BPOS to meet its enterprise technology goals, the State of California joins the more than 500 state and local governments in 48 out of 50 U.S. states that currently use Microsoft Online Services. For more information, see the full press release here.

By Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Microsoft Federal

When Data.gov launched last year, it was an incredible milestone for open government, citizen engagement and transparency. The site instantly became the central location for the democratization of public information, enabling researchers and developers to interact with data and build applications that benefit citizens across the country. Over the past year Data.gov has evolved to include geospatial capabilities and additional datasets, and a new cloud project spearheaded by the GSA will make the site even more valuable for citizens.

A team of Microsoft partners recently announced that they are working with the GSA on a cloud-based dataset hosting solution designed to improve constituents' ability to access and consume important Federal data. The Smartronix team (Smartronix, Synteractive, KPMG and TMP Government) is the same team that built Recovery.gov 2.0, and Microsoft's role will be to offer our Codename Dallas solution to help users manage and utilize open datasets within the Windows Azure platform.

Open government starts with making data available, but in order to really drive innovation and engagement, citizens need tools that help them contextualize that data. It's only truly open if it's easy to understand, easy to visualize and easy to work with. This virtual dataset hosting solution will help make the process of discovering, acquiring and managing data far simpler, both for agencies and citizen developers. For more information on the project, see press releases from Smartronix as well as Microsoft's 2010 Federal Partner of the Year, Synteractive.

By Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Microsoft Federal 

Federal CIOs who decide to implement cloud computing must find  the right vendor to ensure the required level of service.  Cloud service level agreements (SLAs) provide this assurance - consistent, reliable access to IT resources, and solid contingency plans in the event of an outage.  What happens if an unscheduled service interruption occurs?  What is the backup plan?  Is my data easily transportable to a new environment?  These are all details vendors must address, which is why the September question on the MITRE Ahead in the Clouds Blog is so timely.  My answer appears below, but I encourage everyone to read the other responses for best practices when creating cloud SLAs.          

MITRE Question for September: Often service level agreements (SLAs), contracts, or memorandums of understanding (MOUs) are used between organizations to define the relationship between the service provider and consumer. For a Federal Government or DoD context, please describe or suggest important attributes of SLAs, contracts, MOUs, or other status information that are needed to enable successful operational cloud deployments.

The same terms always pop up when discussing cloud SLAs - uptime, availability, reliability.  These words speak to the really innovative quality of cloud computing – how computing resources are accessed.  You’re not buying a product with a set of agreed upon features, you’re buying a new way to house and tap into your IT assets.  Customers want assurance that they will have access to their data and applications, and it’s up to vendors to guarantee this access.  When reliability is combined with security, cloud computing becomes a no-brainer, and SLAs are absolutely necessary to outline agreed upon service expectations that meet customer needs.    

But as cloud infrastructures have improved, access seems like a pretty low bar.  If I’m a Public Sector CIO evaluating cloud computing options, I’m not willing to accept a significant decrease in access (uptime, availability, reliability) in order to gain the other benefits cloud offers (efficiency, scalability, cost reductions).  A large part of my decision will be based on a cloud solution’s ability to be there when I need it, and it shouldn’t be much different the reliability of traditional IT infrastructures. 

Federal agencies can’t afford regular, unexpected service interruptions.  The data and the mission is too important.  This is why data portability is essential.  It gives agencies the ultimate option - to immediately relocate to another cloud provider if their service needs aren’t being met.  Agencies need the freedom to move their data to an environment they trust, and SLAs that include data portability language protect customers more effectively than any other metric or clause.   

It’s common for SLAs to include financial compensation for service outages, and that’s an important start.  Customers should be compensated for lost access, but if there are repeated, unscheduled breaks in service, that policy is failing to provide value.  All enterprise organizations require consistent access to their computing resources, and when service needs aren’t being met, data portability adds another layer of assurance beyond financial return.  

It’s true that service interruptions often occur because of network outages rather than issues with the cloud solution itself.  Unfortunately, the result is the same for customers – lack of access.  To limit these breaks in service, vendors should address minimum network connectivity requirements in the SLA.  Network monitoring is a key component of a holistic cloud implementation, and vendors should continually and proactively work with network providers to ensure connectivity needs are being met.  SLAs can address these issues at the outset, and can even outline network backup options like leveraging satellite connectivity. 

Overall, SLAs are extremely important, but they are evolving as cloud offerings improve.   Customers are rightly expecting more, and vendors must step up their game to deliver.  Ensuring data portability in SLAs avoids vendor lock-in, promotes choice, increases competition and allows government enterprises to freely choose the best available solutions.       

By Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Microsoft Federal 

Telework has been a topic of discussion for years and the federal employees I speak with are looking for an acceleration in action.  Though progress has been made - agencies like the FAA have driven significant efficiencies through telework policies - everyone from the administration to federal employees are looking for broader adoption.  A report released this past summer from the Partnership for Public Service and Booz Allen Hamilton indicated that less than 6 percent of all full-time federal workers telework even one day a month.  That leaves a great deal of room for improvement. 

So what are the barriers?  Part of it is cultural.  Managers are accustomed to having face time with staff, and being able to physically monitor the productivity of their groups.  That contact is important, but technology has advanced to the point where managers don’t have to sacrifice collaboration or productivity in a teleworking environment.  Web-based access to files and applications has made coming into the office less critical, and the advances in communications and collaboration software have changed the way we think about meetings.  Unified communications technologies are providing us all with more information about where colleagues are and how best to reach them, and between video conferencing, email, IM and social networking sites, the way we collaborate at work has already evolved, even while we’re in the office.  Productivity isn’t about how long someone stays in a building, it’s about what they produce and accomplish, and performance management technology is giving managers insight into mission progress like never before.      

Once we get federal employees engaged with the technology tools they need to maintain and even improve performance remotely, the other advantages are obvious.  Limiting commute time is great for the environment, but it also frees up more time for employees to be working on mission goals rather than stuck in traffic.  The flexibility has also been shown to improve job satisfaction, which aids retention and recruiting efforts – particularly among young professionals accustomed to getting things done while mobile.  And Washington DC’s snowstorms last winter showed us all that remote access is a necessity in times when staff are unable to physically get to the office. 

The good news is that the telework movement recently got a boost from Congress, with the Telework Improvements Act expected to be signed into law later this year.  In the meantime, I’d love to hear more about telework successes and challenges from federal staff, managers and technology professionals working to make this transition seamless!  

By Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Microsoft Federal 

I usually focus on technology happenings in the federal space, but I wanted to quickly call attention to a very exciting announcement that the State of Minnesota made today.  Minnesota’s Office of Enterprise Technology is moving the state’s communications and collaboration suite to the cloud in order to save money, expand capabilities, and improve operational efficiency.  Below is a great Q&A with Gopal Khanna, Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Minnesota, that was posted on Microsoft’s Bright Side of Government blog.  Gopal provides some insight into the strategic advantages cloud computing offers large public enterprises.

(Cross-posted from Microsoft’s Bright Side of Government Blog) By Gail Thomas-Flynn, Microsoft US State & Local Government Vice President & Gopal Khanna, Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Minnesota

How does Minnesota benefit from this agreement?

The Enterprise contract allows us to provide more efficient services to our customers at lower rates, whether they are consumed as a package or individually. At the same time with no upfront investment, it boosts our security, dramatically improves email capacity and allows for greater functionality, making it easier to move seamlessly between applications.

Microsoft will also continually upgrade our applications to the latest versions as they become available at no cost.

From the CIO perspective, what are your key concerns when it comes to security/privacy?

As with any CIO, keeping our data private and secure is one of my top priorities. Microsoft was willing to work with us and tailor a plan to fit the State’s needs. Our data will be housed in a dedicated environment, with no access by other Microsoft customers and will travel directly through Minnesota’s secure network.

The Minnesota Enterprise Security Office conducted a thorough review and found the service not only met our needs, but it provides the State with an instant upgrade to our security profile. The superior security architecture of the application platforms and the state-of-the-art physical security of Microsoft facilities enhance Minnesota’s commitment to improving data security.

Scalability?

Scalability is one of the more appealing benefits of cloud. The “one size fits all” approach can make it difficult to serve government customers of all shapes and sizes. Our customers are only charged for the services they use and unique plans can be crafted to fit a large agency with thousands of employees or a small city with only a handful.

Why did you choose Microsoft?

In 2009, Governor Tim Pawlenty designated email a utility service for all executive branch agencies, and we signed an agreement with Microsoft to make Exchange our Enterprise Email platform. Earlier this year, all Unified Communications and Collaboration services became utility services for executive branch agencies, so we began to explore a dedicated cloud computing partnership with Microsoft, building off the original agreement.

Microsoft was willing to work with us to meet our specific needs and develop a package to improve service levels, security and provide cost savings.

Beyond the measurable savings to the state, what type of impact will this agreement have?

Upon implementation, executive branch agencies will immediately reap the benefits of this agreement. The increased collaborative functionality will greatly improve efficiency, helping make Minnesota government more productive.

The agreement also provides the State with the opportunity to partner with other units of government across Minnesota, so they can benefit from packaging these services as well.

As the first state to adopt online hosting for your communications and collaborations applications, what is your advice for other states who are thinking about implementing cloud technologies?

It is no secret that states across the country are battling growing budget deficits. Governments are continually being asked to do more with less. Utilizing innovations and taking a collaborative approach to IT management will be key to creating a government model that is sustainable in the 21^st Century.

Cloud technologies provide states with a tremendous opportunity to save money and improve service efficiencies without massive upfront investment. They also allow for collaboration across multiple levels of government. In Minnesota, the BPOS suite of applications are now a utility service for all executive branch agencies, but we are actively looking for new cities, counties, school districts and other units of government to partner with, so they can realize savings as well.

For the entire post, please visit the Bright Side of Government blog!