Microsoft cloud for federal users

Microsoft took aim at the federal market this week, announcing a suite of hosted cloud services dedicated to federal government users.

"It's a separate, dedicated infrastructure in secure facilities," said Rob Markezich, corporate vice president of online services at Microsoft.

The offerings available in Business Productivity Online Suite Federal include Exchange, SharePoint, Office Live Meeting and Office Communications. They will be hosted from special facilities in an effort to meet the particular needs of federal agencies.

It's no surprise that Microsoft headed to the federal government, just like most other big tech companies. It's the one sector that is still growing and spending money.

Federal CIO Vivek Kundra has underscored the importance of clouds for federal services, and agencies are moving swiftly to embrace it. Microsoft intends to restrict access to the site with biometric systems and making sure that only U.S. citizens will be allowed to access it.

For more on Microsoft's federal cloud:
- see this Computerworld article

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