We’re continuing to focus on delivering the innovations our government customers and partners have requested. In this blog, you’ll find a brief summary of our recent announcements from late summer and early fall for your reference.

Also, we invite you to join us for the Microsoft Ignite | The Tour | Government, Feb. 4-5, in Washington, DC. This is a free technical training event for developers, tech professionals, and mission leaders. Our top engineers will bring two days of deep dive sessions, hands-on skill-building, and networking opportunities. Be sure to register to join us.

New capabilities to enable your mission end to end

Enabling intelligent cloud and intelligent edge solutions for government

We’re going through a technology transformation that is unlocking new mission scenarios for government agencies that were simply not possible before. Smart sensors and connected devices are changing the way agencies approach problems, and hybrid cloud is evolving into units of computing available at even the world’s most remote destinations working in concert with public cloud. Read the full article: Enabling intelligent cloud and intelligent edge solutions for government.

Announcing general availability of Azure Security Center for Azure Government

As government agencies confront increased cyber threats, there is mounting pressure to build stronger defenses for their data, networks, and IT infrastructure. With Azure Security Center now generally available in Azure Government, customers get unified security management and advanced threat protection across hybrid cloud workloads.

Announcing Azure Stack for Azure Government customers

Just a few months ago we shared our plans to integrate Microsoft Azure Stack with our government-only cloud offering so agencies can benefit from a truly consistent hybrid cloud approach across identity, subscription, registration, billing, backup and disaster recovery solutions, and the Azure Marketplace, and now it’s available for Azure Government customers to order.

Additional Azure Government Product Announcements

Gain flexibility and improve budgeting with Azure Reservations, which can help you save money on workloads with consistent usage, provide price predictability, and support your budgeting and forecasting needs. Reservations are available for virtual machines, SQL Server and Cosmos DB for US Gov Arizona, US Gov Texas, US Gov Virginia, US DoD Central, and US DoD East.

We recently announced the general availability of industry-leading performance Azure SQL Data Warehouse Compute Optimized Gen2 tier for government customers in the US Gov Arizona and US Gov Texas regions.

We also announced the general availability of Azure Database for MySQL and Azure Database for PostgreSQL for Azure Government customers. These fully managed, government-ready database-as-a-service offerings bring the community versions of MySQL and PostgreSQL to mission-critical government workloads with built-in high availability, a 99.99% availability SLA, elastic scaling for performance, and industry leading security and compliance.

New Azure Government partners and partner solutions

Discover Marketplace Solutions for Azure Government

Read the Marketplace Solutions for Azure Government whitepaper to learn about available Azure Government Marketplace solutions and find guidance on adoption and implementation. Accelerate development and advance your IT initiatives with solutions designed for government.

Find Azure Government Cloud Solution Providers (CSPs)

Reference the list of Azure Government Cloud Solution Providers to find partners who can support your cloud initiatives from planning through implementation.

Read recent Azure Government partner solution announcements:

• CIS Hardened Images™ are securely configured virtual machine images based on the CIS Benchmarks™, a set of recommendations developed through a consensus-based process by a community of cybersecurity experts around the world. CIS Hardened Images for both Linux and Windows are now available on all Azure Government regions, including DoD regions that support IL5.
• Cybraics: Protecting information systems and critical infrastructure from cyberattack and reducing the nation’s overall cybersecurity risk are key mandates that cross every level of local, state and federal government. In support of this effort, we’re pleased to announce a new partnership with Cybraics, a security analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) company, to bring new artificial intelligence (AI)- and analytics-based services to Microsoft Azure Government customers.
• ServiceNow and Microsoft recently announced an alliance to help deliver ServiceNow digital workflows to Azure Government customers; paving the way to secure modernization and helping to accelerate digital transformation. By automating routine activities, tasks and processes at work, ServiceNow helps agencies gain efficiencies and increase the productivity of their workforce.
• Accelera Solutions: After 16 years deploying virtual applications and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), partner Accelera Solutions has learned how significant of a paradigm shift VDI is for customers. It transforms the way employees work, the way the desktop is managed, and the way the desktop is deployed.
• Net-Inspect: With one of the most complex and distributed supply chains in the world, aerospace and defense manufacturers need to demonstrate compliance with numerous regulations including AS9100, ITAR, EAR, and FedRAMP. Net-Inspect solutions provide the largest Aerospace manufacturers with visibility into their supply chain up to seven layers deep, establishing a ‘digital thread’ that connects all parts into a unified view.

Azure and Azure Government Starter Packs for GSA IT Schedule 70

Designed to get you up and running quickly with common cloud workloads, the following Azure and Azure Government starter pack scenarios are available today:

• Datacenter Migration
• Dev Test
• Websites/Apps
• SQL Server Cloud Resiliency
• IoT Proof of Concept
• Bot Service with Translation

Azure Starter Packs offer you flexibility, as you can purchase a single SKU for a common workload such as datacenter migration and gain the flexibility to define your architecture as you go, choosing the services you need within the SKU without contract modification. You also gain streamlined procurement, so you can purchase a single SKU and be up and running quickly with the services you need. In addition, you get personalized guidance from Microsoft technical architects and Microsoft FastTrack for Azure engineers who support hundreds of cloud customers. Learn more at aka.ms/azurestarterpacks.