Insights, how-tos and updates for building solutions on Microsoft's cloud for US government
November 13, 2019Nov 13, 201911/13/19The next wave of computing is taking shape around us – from smart devices and sensors that can speak, listen and action; to compute-enabled in remote parts of the globe – without requiring always-on connectivity to the cloud to make real-time,
October 16, 2019Oct 16, 201910/16/19In support of the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the Microsoft Azure Government user community invites you to RSVP and join us for a meetup on “Government cybersecurity in the era of cloud,” on Wednesday, Oct. 23 from 6 – 8:30 p.m.
October 7, 2019Oct 7, 201910/7/19From our commercial cloud to the tactical edge, we continue to deliver more innovation to empower government agencies to advance their mission. In addition to the recent product news enabling government to advance ‘tech intensity’, here are some recent highlights of new capabilities in Azure to support the full spectrum of government needs.
October 1, 2019Oct 1, 201910/1/19With our nation’s capital consistently ranked as the best US city for women in technology, we invite you to RSVP and join us for a Women in Cloud + Government breakfast on Friday, Oct 11 from 7:30 – 10:30 a.m. with accomplished technology leaders who are driving government innovation.
September 18, 2019Sep 18, 201909/18/19As the government accelerates its cloud adoption, it becomes increasingly important to proactively manage costs. Azure Cost Management is a suite of tools that are designed to help you visualize, manage, and optimize costs across Azure.
I recently filmed a YouTube video where I had the opportunity to present the main features available for government customers within the Azure portal.
September 12, 2019Sep 12, 201909/12/1913 new services added to FedRAMP High ATO as part of ongoing work to make commercial innovation more accessible to government agencies
Microsoft now has 80 services covered by the FedRAMP High Provisional Authorization to Operate (P-ATO) for Azure Government in the continental United States.
September 4, 2019Sep 4, 201909/4/19Disclaimer: Customers are wholly responsible for ensuring their own compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Information provided in this post does not constitute legal advice, and customers should consult their legal advisors for any questions regarding regulatory compliance.
Our recently released Azure Blueprint for NIST SP 800-53 R4 is now available in Azure Government.
September 3, 2019Sep 3, 201909/3/19The President’s Management Agenda calls for the use of government’s data as a strategic asset to improve operations and effectiveness in serving citizens. Agencies are on the hook to modernize for a data-driven world and deploy data strategies that will help solve mission challenges.
August 27, 2019Aug 27, 201908/27/19In this episode of the Azure Government video series, Steve Michelotti, Principal Program Manager talks with Jason Henderson, Cloud Architect Microsoft Federal, about the Secure Azure Computing Architecture (SACA) in Azure Government. Jason starts by explaining how the SACA relates to the Secure Cloud Computing Architecture (SCCA) policy,
August 20, 2019Aug 20, 201908/20/19In this episode of the Azure Government video series, Steve Michelotti, Principal Program Manager, talks with Peter Shultz, Program Manager, on the Azure Batch team, about Azure Batch in Azure Government. The discussion begins with Peter describing what Azure Batch is and how Azure Batch is ideal for optimizing workloads that are parallelizable.
Announcements
November 20, 2019Nov 20, 201911/20/19Contributors include Meladie Espiritu, Senior Program Manager, Azure Global and Abhijeet Jhala (AJ), Director Modern Government Partner Solutions, State Local Government
Disclaimer: Customers are wholly responsible for ensuring their own compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Information provided in this post does not constitute legal advice,
November 14, 2019Nov 14, 201911/14/19Disclaimer: Customers are wholly responsible for ensuring their own compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Information provided in this post does not constitute legal advice, and customers should consult their legal advisors for any questions regarding regulatory compliance.
Our recently released Azure Blueprint for FedRAMP Moderate is now available in Azure Government.
October 7, 2019Oct 7, 201910/7/19From our commercial cloud to the tactical edge, we continue to deliver more innovation to empower government agencies to advance their mission. In addition to the recent product news enabling government to advance ‘tech intensity’, here are some recent highlights of new capabilities in Azure to support the full spectrum of government needs.
September 12, 2019Sep 12, 201909/12/1913 new services added to FedRAMP High ATO as part of ongoing work to make commercial innovation more accessible to government agencies
Microsoft now has 80 services covered by the FedRAMP High Provisional Authorization to Operate (P-ATO) for Azure Government in the continental United States.
September 4, 2019Sep 4, 201909/4/19Disclaimer: Customers are wholly responsible for ensuring their own compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Information provided in this post does not constitute legal advice, and customers should consult their legal advisors for any questions regarding regulatory compliance.
Our recently released Azure Blueprint for NIST SP 800-53 R4 is now available in Azure Government.
June 5, 2019Jun 5, 201906/5/19Snowflake, the data warehouse built for the cloud, is now generally available on Microsoft Azure Government.
Snowflake is a data warehouse-as-a-service, which requires no management and features separate compute, storage, and cloud services that can scale and change independently. Snowflake’s architecture provides complete relational database support for both structured data,
May 1, 2019May 1, 201905/1/1910 new services added to FedRAMP High ATO as part of ongoing work to make commercial innovation more accessible to government agencies
Microsoft now has 67 services covered by the FedRAMP High Provisional Authorization to Operate (P-ATO) for Azure Government in the continental United States.
April 29, 2019Apr 29, 201904/29/19Earlier this month we announced that Microsoft has expanded the IL5 Provisional Authorization (PA) granted by the Department of Defense (DoD) to all Azure Government regions. This expanded coverage brings more PaaS features and services at Impact Level 5 (IL5) to customers than any other cloud provider.
April 17, 2019Apr 17, 201904/17/19Azure Government Secret now in private preview and pending accreditation
Azure Government Secret delivers comprehensive and mission enabling cloud services to US Federal Civilian, Department of Defense (DoD), Intelligence Community (IC), and US government partners working within Secret enclaves.
Developed using the same foundational principles and architecture as Azure commercial cloud,
March 13, 2019Mar 13, 201903/13/19Today, we launched the Azure Government Blog on the Microsoft Dev Blogs platform which provides a more user-friendly design and better capabilities to help you stay connected with our developer community even when you’re AFK (away from keyboard).
Over the last few months,
Award
February 1, 2018Feb 1, 201802/1/18We’d like to congratulate the recently-announced 2018 Federal 100 Award winners, including Karina Homme, senior director, Azure Government, who was recognized for her many contributions to the federal government IT community.
The Federal 100 Awards are presented annually by Federal Computer Week to recognize government and industry leaders who play pivotal roles in federal government IT.
Azure Government
March 11, 2019Mar 11, 201903/11/19This is the third blog in a three-part series on security in Azure Government co-authored by Robert Jaffee, Sr. Program Manager, and Diego Lapiduz, Chief Information Security Architect, with Microsoft Azure Global Government. (In case you missed them, check out the first and second blogs: Six tips for securing identity in the cloud and Five tips for securing your IaaS workloads.
December 6, 2018Dec 6, 201812/6/18In support of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security, we hosted a special edition Microsoft Azure Government Meetup, Women Leading Government Cybersecurity at 1776 in Washington, DC.
In partnership with the Women in Technology DC Chapter of the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners,
February 5, 2018Feb 5, 201802/5/18Azure Fundamentals Training at AFCEA WEST
We’re looking forward to seeing those of you attending AFCEA WEST and invite technical and business leaders to join us for an exclusive commercial cloud training event on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.,
June 23, 2017Jun 23, 201706/23/17Gartner projects that 21 billion devices will be connected to the internet by 2020. With the U.S. government market for the Internet of Things (IoT) beginning to take shape, we invite government contractors register to join Washington Technology and Microsoft to a free event,
June 15, 2017Jun 15, 201706/15/17Microsoft is pleased to announce the availability of our Risk Assessment Checklist for the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) for Federal Agencies. The Checklist is available on the Service Trust Portal under “Compliance Guides”. Microsoft worked with our Azure Blueprint Partner, First Information Technology Services (FITS),
June 12, 2017Jun 12, 201706/12/17We’re excited to announce today that Microsoft has made IoT Hub available in Azure Government, the most secure and compliant cloud platform for U.S. government to run mission workloads.
Internet of Things (IoT) is revolutionizing industries such as utilities and retail,
May 31, 2017May 31, 201705/31/17We are happy to announce that Power BI Gov users can now use ArcGIS Maps for Power BI Gov (preview) created by Esri! This brings several new capabilities to Power BI Gov users.
Geographic information systems (GIS) helps users gain a better understanding of the world by using spatial analysis on a map’s data layers.
May 11, 2017May 11, 201705/11/17As we look to continue to expand and evolve the platform, we are excited to announce two new generally available services in Azure Government: Azure Cosmos DB and Blob Storage (Hot/Cool). Yesterday Microsoft announced Azure Cosmos DB and today we are bringing it to you in Azure Government.
May 8, 2017May 8, 201705/8/17Comprehensive, Prevention-Based Security for Azure Government Cloud
Today on Azure Government
The Palo Alto Networks® VM-Series virtualized next-generation firewall on Microsoft Azure allows government agencies to apply the same advanced threat prevention features and next-generation firewall application policy controls used in their physical data centers to the Azure Government Cloud.
April 19, 2017Apr 19, 201704/19/17In the latest episode of The Azure Podcast, Steve Michelotti of the Azure Government engineering sits down with The Azure Podcast team to discuss the latest and greatest of Azure Government. Steve also provides an update on what is going on in Azure Government including:
The two new DoD specific datacenters
How Azure Government is the only publicly available government cloud with DISA L5
Differences between Azure public and Azure Government
And more!
Cloud Strategy
June 7, 2018Jun 7, 201806/7/18Got Back Up? Anyone who has a basement or even a closet in their home, knows the sometimes painful necessity of clearing out space and managing storage. Government agencies embarking on digital transformation can also feel the pain of runaway costs due to storage accumulation for backups.
June 21, 2017Jun 21, 201706/21/17We are excited to announce that Azure Government services are now available through the Cloud Solution Provider program (CSP). The CSP program enables partners to make Microsoft Cloud services part of their customer offerings, expanding U.S. government customer options in meeting their mission goals.
June 9, 2017Jun 9, 201706/9/17Our first Azure Government HackFest + Training event is in the books and it was a great event! We were thrilled to see so many enthusiastic developers and IT Pros in Azure Government interested in learning new things and getting even more hands-on with Azure Government.
May 11, 2017May 11, 201705/11/17Microsoft is furthering its commitment to U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) contractors and the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) by announcing support for Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) requirements for Azure Government Services. This allows DoD’s mission partners to host Covered Defense Information (CDI) in Microsoft’s secure,
May 10, 2017May 10, 201705/10/17Register to join Washington Technology and Microsoft on Friday, May 12, from 7:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m., for a free morning event, at the Ritz Carlton, Tysons Corner. Defense contractors, systems integrators and members of the Defense Industrial Base will gather to hear insights into technologies and strategies that can help deliver secure commercial cloud solutions.
May 5, 2017May 5, 201705/5/17In the newest episode of Azure Friday, Steve Michelotti talks with Scott Hanselman about Azure Government, which provides a separate physical and network-isolated instance of Azure for federal, state, and local governments with a higher level of compliance for US Government workloads.
April 19, 2017Apr 19, 201704/19/17In the latest episode of The Azure Podcast, Steve Michelotti of the Azure Government engineering sits down with The Azure Podcast team to discuss the latest and greatest of Azure Government. Steve also provides an update on what is going on in Azure Government including:
The two new DoD specific datacenters
How Azure Government is the only publicly available government cloud with DISA L5
Differences between Azure public and Azure Government
And more!
March 29, 2017Mar 29, 201703/29/17How to design and build an enterprise infrastructure in Azure using the Azure Resource Manager portal
Getting started in Azure is easy to do, and you can have production workloads running in the cloud in very little time. However, there are some essential aspects of the Azure platform that require some forethought and planning.
March 15, 2017Mar 15, 201703/15/17The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the US government’s largest civilian agency, has issued a FedRAMP High Authority to Operate (ATO) for Microsoft Azure Government. This validates that the Microsoft Azure Government cloud meets all security and compliance standards necessary to handle VA’s most sensitive data,
June 21, 2016Jun 21, 201606/21/16<Cross posted from the Azure Blog.>
Today, I am pleased to announce additional functionality for Microsoft Azure Government. In support of key customer requests, and service portfolio expansion, we have added support for Premium Storage and several additional pre-configured Virtual Machine images.
Compute
August 27, 2018Aug 27, 201808/27/18TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocols provide privacy and data integrity for establishing secured connections between applications. Over the period of time TLS has evolved and new versions have continued to fix vulnerabilities in older versions and also add newer capabilities. As Azure Government customers continue to optimize security of their cloud based applications and solutions,
March 29, 2018Mar 29, 201803/29/18Creating and managing your Azure Functions in Azure Government just got easier with the availability of the Azure Functions portal experience. The rich portal experience allows you to create, manage and monitor your functions. You can develop using C#, F# or JavaScript and integrate with a wide variety of services using triggers and bindings.
February 5, 2018Feb 5, 201802/5/18
By
Jason Henderson, Cloud Solutions Architect
Kyle Hoyer, Technical Solutions Professional
Derek Strausbaugh, Principal Program Manager, Azure Global
A rapidly increasing number of DoD customers deploying IaaS workloads to Azure have been asking for guidance setting up secure virtual networks and configuring the security tools and services stipulated by DoD standards and practice.
June 20, 2017Jun 20, 201706/20/17Management wants you to move to the cloud. But if you simply lift-and-shift, you are missing out on tremendous opportunities to increase scalability and optimize resources, while also decreasing time and costs. In this episode of the Azure Government video series,
June 5, 2017Jun 5, 201706/5/17As government agencies increasingly look to adopt of DevOps, cloud computing, and Linux containers, building the underlying infrastructure on a trusted and secure foundation is critical. Today Red Hat, in collaboration with Microsoft, released a partner Azure Blueprint for deploying Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform on Microsoft Azure Government.
March 29, 2017Mar 29, 201703/29/17How to design and build an enterprise infrastructure in Azure using the Azure Resource Manager portal
Getting started in Azure is easy to do, and you can have production workloads running in the cloud in very little time. However, there are some essential aspects of the Azure platform that require some forethought and planning.
October 19, 2016Oct 19, 201610/19/16We are happy to announce that government customers can now deploy Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.8 and 7.2 VM images in a Pay-As-You-Go model directly from the Azure Government Marketplace with per-minute billing. This is following our partnership announcement with Red Hat in Azure Government on July 27th,
September 27, 2016Sep 27, 201609/27/16We are pleased to announce the general availability of Azure VM and SQL DB deployment and management powered by Azure Resource Manager (ARM) on Microsoft Azure Government. These capabilities are some of the most requested features for Azure Government. This enables the modern management of many more of your cloud resources.
Connectivity
April 5, 2017Apr 5, 201704/5/17Visual Studio has many tools that enable developers to easily interact with Azure. These are tools like the Cloud Explorer for Visual Studio 2017, Visual Studio Server Explorer, the main Visual Studio login, and even being able to right-click in the Visual Studio Solution Explorer to deploy a web project to Azure.
March 23, 2017Mar 23, 201703/23/17One of the capabilities in the Web Apps Service is placing your Azure resources in a non-internet routable network that you can control access to. These networks can be connected to your on-premise networks using VPN technologies. For example, with VNET integration you can enable access from your web app to resources running on a virtual machine in your Azure virtual network.
Data
June 9, 2017Jun 9, 201706/9/17Our first Azure Government HackFest + Training event is in the books and it was a great event! We were thrilled to see so many enthusiastic developers and IT Pros in Azure Government interested in learning new things and getting even more hands-on with Azure Government.
April 12, 2017Apr 12, 201704/12/17Deploy the full power of Cloudera’s enterprise data hub on-demand with Cloudera Director, or through the Microsoft Azure Marketplace. Quickly launch, run, and scale production Hadoop clusters that meet your demanding data workloads. You can also use Cloudera Cent OS Quick Start Templates to deploy to Azure Government
Joint Solution Overview
This integration will ensure that businesses can continue using existing tools and leveraging existing skillsets—but now with much greater efficiency and scope including:
Rapid Time-to-Insight: By running Cloudera Enterprise on Microsoft Azure,
Developer Services
June 5, 2017Jun 5, 201706/5/17As government agencies increasingly look to adopt of DevOps, cloud computing, and Linux containers, building the underlying infrastructure on a trusted and secure foundation is critical. Today Red Hat, in collaboration with Microsoft, released a partner Azure Blueprint for deploying Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform on Microsoft Azure Government.
May 3, 2017May 3, 201705/3/17Continuous integration (CI) and continuous deployment (CD) help teams reliably deliver quality apps to end customers at a faster pace of update. From code through build, test, and deployment you can define efficient and fully managed pipelines that automate and control the entire process.
October 13, 2016Oct 13, 201610/13/16We are excited to share the general availability of Azure App Service on Azure Government. App Service is a cloud platform which enables developers to build, deploy and run powerful web apps, mobile back-ends and API apps that connect to data anywhere in the cloud.
Events
January 22, 2020Jan 22, 202001/22/20Microsoft Ignite The Tour is bringing the very best of Microsoft Ignite to Washington, DC, Feb. 6-7, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Time is running out to secure your spot for two days of technical training led by Microsoft experts and your community.
January 20, 2020Jan 20, 202001/20/20More and more government agencies are reaching the tipping point with cloud; going beyond lift-and-shift as the full potential of cloud is becoming crystal clear. Without a doubt, 2020 will bring even greater focus on ways agencies can take advantage of cloud capabilities to enable their mission.
November 13, 2019Nov 13, 201911/13/19The next wave of computing is taking shape around us – from smart devices and sensors that can speak, listen and action; to compute-enabled in remote parts of the globe – without requiring always-on connectivity to the cloud to make real-time,
October 16, 2019Oct 16, 201910/16/19In support of the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the Microsoft Azure Government user community invites you to RSVP and join us for a meetup on “Government cybersecurity in the era of cloud,” on Wednesday, Oct. 23 from 6 – 8:30 p.m.
October 1, 2019Oct 1, 201910/1/19With our nation’s capital consistently ranked as the best US city for women in technology, we invite you to RSVP and join us for a Women in Cloud + Government breakfast on Friday, Oct 11 from 7:30 – 10:30 a.m. with accomplished technology leaders who are driving government innovation.
September 3, 2019Sep 3, 201909/3/19The President’s Management Agenda calls for the use of government’s data as a strategic asset to improve operations and effectiveness in serving citizens. Agencies are on the hook to modernize for a data-driven world and deploy data strategies that will help solve mission challenges.
August 16, 2019Aug 16, 201908/16/19Managing governance and cloud spend are often cited as top challenges for government. And, while effective governance to ensure control over costs, performance, and security is essential for cloud success, many agencies are not fully leveraging the various tools, resources, and automation capabilities that can enable success.
July 22, 2019Jul 22, 201907/22/19According to a recent Government Accountability Office report, only 11 percent of federal IT systems are running on the cloud while the Department of Defense uses cloud for about 3 percent of its tech. As many government agencies look to accelerate their drive to the cloud,
July 12, 2019Jul 12, 201907/12/19Azure Logic Apps allows users to automate and orchestrate tasks, business processes, and workflows when you need to integrate apps, data, systems, and services across enterprises or organizations. With an easy-to-use, drag-drop user interface and hundreds of pre-built connectors allowing easy integration with other applications and services,
June 28, 2019Jun 28, 201906/28/19I recently had the opportunity to discuss Azure DevOps at the Microsoft Azure Government DC Meetup. During my presentation, The Need for Speed – Azure DevOps, I demonstrated how a new member of a dev team can quickly integrate and become productive with an existing project using Azure DevOps which facilitates productivity by combining multiple aspects of DevOps into a single,
Evidence Stories
December 10, 2018Dec 10, 201812/10/18With a mission to strengthen our nation’s security by building and maintaining infrastructure, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is a federal agency under the Department of Defense with approximately 38,000 civilians and soldiers delivering engineering services in more than 130 countries worldwide.
October 15, 2018Oct 15, 201810/15/18For Jacob Wrigley, working with technology has always been a passion. It started with designing and building with Legos as a kid. Later, that passion took the form of writing code and building his own computer programs. But tech was never a full-time job.
October 5, 2017Oct 5, 201710/5/17City of Miami Police Department has committed to executing the CJIS Personnel Security Requirements for Microsoft
Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), the State of Florida’s CJIS Systems Agency, recently completed an audit of Microsoft controls applicable to the CJIS Security Policy (details here).
September 21, 2017Sep 21, 201709/21/17Azure Site Recovery (ASR) provides capabilities to automate protection and replication of virtual machines, providing a true Disaster Recovery as a Service Solution (DRaaS). ASR allows for data replication to multiple geographically dispersed regions, which provides a significant opportunity for cost savings while enhancing Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR) and COOP capabilities.
Hybrid Integration
June 12, 2017Jun 12, 201706/12/17We’re excited to announce today that Microsoft has made IoT Hub available in Azure Government, the most secure and compliant cloud platform for U.S. government to run mission workloads.
Internet of Things (IoT) is revolutionizing industries such as utilities and retail,
June 7, 2017Jun 7, 201706/7/17For those who could not join us at the May Azure Gov DC Meetup, we are pleased to bring you the replay of “Managing the Changing Hybrid Cloud Environment in Gov.”
The first segment kicks off with Azure Government updates then features Brian Harrison,
Identity & Access Management
April 3, 2018Apr 3, 201804/3/18We are continuing our efforts to provide a differentiated US Government platform and have updated our Identity architecture to bring additional capabilities inside the Azure Government infrastructure boundary. Part of this, as shared in our Azure Government endpoint mappings, is changing the Azure Active Directory (AAD) Authority for Azure Government from https://login-us.microsoftonline.com to https://login.microsoftonline.us.
Internet of Things
June 23, 2017Jun 23, 201706/23/17Gartner projects that 21 billion devices will be connected to the internet by 2020. With the U.S. government market for the Internet of Things (IoT) beginning to take shape, we invite government contractors register to join Washington Technology and Microsoft to a free event,
June 16, 2017Jun 16, 201706/16/17The rapid growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) enables exciting capabilities to enhance agencies’ missions but also brings many challenges including security and strategies for integrating this evolving technology.
Please RSVP to join us for an evening of demos, use cases and best practices on how agencies can quickly and securely deploy IoT in the cloud at the next Microsoft Azure Government DC Meetup,
Learning
January 21, 2020Jan 21, 202001/21/20This is the first in a six-part blog series where we will demonstrate the application of Zero Trust concepts for securing federal information systems with Microsoft Azure. In this first blog of the series we will explore identity and access management with Azure Active Directory.
January 16, 2020Jan 16, 202001/16/20In this episode of the Microsoft Azure Government video series, Steve Michelotti, Principal Software Engineer on the Azure Government team, talks with Chris Pendleton, Principal PM Manager on the Microsoft Azure Maps team about Azure Maps in Azure Government.
Chris explains what makes Azure Maps different from other mapping solutions available.
January 10, 2020Jan 10, 202001/10/20Several federal initiatives such as CDM (Continuous Diagnostic and Mitigation), TIC (Trusted Internet Connection) increasingly becoming similar, in that identical tools and approaches such as Zero Trust can be used to meet multiple federal mandates. This convergence provides an opportunity to reduce complexity while helping agencies improve their security posture and increase IT efficiency.
January 9, 2020Jan 9, 202001/9/20In this episode of the Azure Government video series, Steve Michelotti, Principal Software Engineer, Microsoft Azure Government, talks with Bingfeng Li, Senior Software Engineer on the Cloud Shell team at Microsoft, about Cloud Shell in Azure Government.
Cloud Shell is a fully featured browser-based command line environment that is ready to run inside the Azure Government portal.
December 19, 2019Dec 19, 201912/19/19Several federal initiatives such as CDM (Continuous Diagnostic and Mitigation) and TIC (Trusted Internet Connection) are increasingly becoming similar, in that identical tools and approaches such as Zero Trust can be used to meet multiple federal mandates. This convergence provides an opportunity to reduce complexity while helping agencies improve their security posture and increase IT efficiency.
December 18, 2019Dec 18, 201912/18/19In this episode of the Azure Government video series, Steve Michelotti, Principal Program Manager, Microsoft Azure Government, talks with Jason Ingram, Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft, about Azure DevOps Server in Azure Government.
Jason starts by explaining what Azure DevOps Server is – and how it is different than the Azure DevOps SaaS offering.
September 18, 2019Sep 18, 201909/18/19As the government accelerates its cloud adoption, it becomes increasingly important to proactively manage costs. Azure Cost Management is a suite of tools that are designed to help you visualize, manage, and optimize costs across Azure.
I recently filmed a YouTube video where I had the opportunity to present the main features available for government customers within the Azure portal.
August 27, 2019Aug 27, 201908/27/19In this episode of the Azure Government video series, Steve Michelotti, Principal Program Manager talks with Jason Henderson, Cloud Architect Microsoft Federal, about the Secure Azure Computing Architecture (SACA) in Azure Government. Jason starts by explaining how the SACA relates to the Secure Cloud Computing Architecture (SCCA) policy,
August 20, 2019Aug 20, 201908/20/19In this episode of the Azure Government video series, Steve Michelotti, Principal Program Manager, talks with Peter Shultz, Program Manager, on the Azure Batch team, about Azure Batch in Azure Government. The discussion begins with Peter describing what Azure Batch is and how Azure Batch is ideal for optimizing workloads that are parallelizable.
August 13, 2019Aug 13, 201908/13/19In this episode of the Azure Government video series, Steve Michelotti, Principal Program Manager, talks with Sachin Dubey, Software Engineer, on the Azure Government Engineering team, to talk about Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS) Gen2 in Azure Government. The discussion starts with an explanation of what ADLS is and many of the advantages of ADLS compared to traditional blob storage.
Management
March 15, 2018Mar 15, 201803/15/18New and improved Azure Log Analytics is now available in Azure Government. This is biggest upgrade to Log Analytics since its launch and includes new features for powerful search, smart analytics, and even deeper insights. This upgrade provides an interactive query language and an advanced analytics portal,
June 6, 2017Jun 6, 201706/6/17This guest blog post is written by Vishwas Lele from Applied Information Sciences (AIS). AIS provides software and systems engineering services to government agencies and businesses across the United States. They specialize in cloud services, DevOps, custom application development and IT services.
May 17, 2017May 17, 201705/17/17In Microsoft’s continuous effort to provide resources and guidance to agencies to help them meet their CJIS regulatory requirements, Microsoft collaborated with Alan Ferretti, CJIS Security Analyst and Subject Matter Expert of the CJIS ACE Division at Diverse Computing and former CJIS Information Security Officer (ISO),
April 5, 2017Apr 5, 201704/5/17Visual Studio has many tools that enable developers to easily interact with Azure. These are tools like the Cloud Explorer for Visual Studio 2017, Visual Studio Server Explorer, the main Visual Studio login, and even being able to right-click in the Visual Studio Solution Explorer to deploy a web project to Azure.
March 9, 2017Mar 9, 201703/9/17The Microsoft Azure Government platform is rapidly innovating with new services being introduced all the time. We have recently announced HDInsight and Power BI as GA on Azure Government. These data-centric services unlock a world of possibilities for your organization to process massive amount of data.
December 14, 2016Dec 14, 201612/14/16We are pleased to announce the addition of Azure Resource Manager, Automation, Azure Batch, Log Analytics, Azure Media Services, Policy Administration Service/RBAC, Redis Cache, and Scheduler to certification scope in Microsoft Azure Government.
Each of these service offerings has received Joint Authorization Board (JAB) approval for addition to Azure Government’s P-ATO at the High Impact Level.
December 2, 2016Dec 2, 201612/2/16With the release of Azure Resource Manager on Microsoft Azure Government (MAG), users are now able to provision and deploy applications using declarative templates. A full listing of publicly contributed templates can be found at https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/templates/ .
How to use QuickStart Templates in MAG
Many of the contributed templates in our Github repo https://github.com/Azure/azure-quickstart-templates will work on MAG without modification.
November 15, 2016Nov 15, 201611/15/16This is my last post in this series where we have been talking about the Operational Management Suite (OMS) within Azure Government and how it can make customers feel safe & secure. In the previous posts we focused on the Azure Backup,
October 20, 2016Oct 20, 201610/20/16Over my first year working at Microsoft, it has been very clear that we are doing everything that we can to really be the go-to Cloud Service Provider (CSP) for customers when it comes to all types of Cloud based services.
October 12, 2016Oct 12, 201610/12/16We are excited to announce the general availability of Log Analytics and the Operations Management Suite Portal in Microsoft Azure Government.
Log Analytics in Operations Management Suite Portal
Log Analytics is a service in Operations Management Suite (OMS) that helps you collect and analyze data generated by resources in your cloud and on-premises environments.
Marketplace
March 13, 2018Mar 13, 201803/13/18Since the launch of Microsoft Jenkins offer in Azure Marketplace in mid-2017, it’s exciting to see the growing number of customers using our solution template to run Jenkins on Azure. Jenkins is a popular open source CI/CD server. With our solution template,
June 1, 2017Jun 1, 201706/1/17We are pleased to share with you the most-recently published VM images from February through March that are now available for Microsoft Azure Government customers.
Published in February- March
Marketplace Images* – Added to Azure Gov and DoD:
*All Marketplace Images now supported in DoD Regions!
November 29, 2016Nov 29, 201611/29/16Last month we announced Azure Marketplace availability in Azure Government, which included individual VM publishing capabilities. Today we’re pleased to announce that solution templates are now supported in the Azure Government Marketplace portal.
Solution templates allow you to bundle multiple Azure services and images into a template that enables customers to deploy all solutions at once,
Meetup
January 20, 2020Jan 20, 202001/20/20More and more government agencies are reaching the tipping point with cloud; going beyond lift-and-shift as the full potential of cloud is becoming crystal clear. Without a doubt, 2020 will bring even greater focus on ways agencies can take advantage of cloud capabilities to enable their mission.
November 13, 2019Nov 13, 201911/13/19The next wave of computing is taking shape around us – from smart devices and sensors that can speak, listen and action; to compute-enabled in remote parts of the globe – without requiring always-on connectivity to the cloud to make real-time,
October 16, 2019Oct 16, 201910/16/19In support of the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the Microsoft Azure Government user community invites you to RSVP and join us for a meetup on “Government cybersecurity in the era of cloud,” on Wednesday, Oct. 23 from 6 – 8:30 p.m.
October 1, 2019Oct 1, 201910/1/19With our nation’s capital consistently ranked as the best US city for women in technology, we invite you to RSVP and join us for a Women in Cloud + Government breakfast on Friday, Oct 11 from 7:30 – 10:30 a.m. with accomplished technology leaders who are driving government innovation.
September 3, 2019Sep 3, 201909/3/19The President’s Management Agenda calls for the use of government’s data as a strategic asset to improve operations and effectiveness in serving citizens. Agencies are on the hook to modernize for a data-driven world and deploy data strategies that will help solve mission challenges.
August 16, 2019Aug 16, 201908/16/19Managing governance and cloud spend are often cited as top challenges for government. And, while effective governance to ensure control over costs, performance, and security is essential for cloud success, many agencies are not fully leveraging the various tools, resources, and automation capabilities that can enable success.
July 22, 2019Jul 22, 201907/22/19According to a recent Government Accountability Office report, only 11 percent of federal IT systems are running on the cloud while the Department of Defense uses cloud for about 3 percent of its tech. As many government agencies look to accelerate their drive to the cloud,
July 12, 2019Jul 12, 201907/12/19Azure Logic Apps allows users to automate and orchestrate tasks, business processes, and workflows when you need to integrate apps, data, systems, and services across enterprises or organizations. With an easy-to-use, drag-drop user interface and hundreds of pre-built connectors allowing easy integration with other applications and services,
June 28, 2019Jun 28, 201906/28/19I recently had the opportunity to discuss Azure DevOps at the Microsoft Azure Government DC Meetup. During my presentation, The Need for Speed – Azure DevOps, I demonstrated how a new member of a dev team can quickly integrate and become productive with an existing project using Azure DevOps which facilitates productivity by combining multiple aspects of DevOps into a single,
June 5, 2019Jun 5, 201906/5/19Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotic processing automation continues to create buzz throughout many industries and government is no exception. The US federal government budget for fiscal year 2020 calls on agencies to adopt emerging technologies to better empower their workforce,
Monitoring
April 9, 2018Apr 9, 201804/9/18This blog was contributed by: Abhave Sharma, Program Manager, R&D Networking IDC
We are pleased to announce the availability of ExpressRoute monitoring with Network Performance Monitor (NPM) in Azure Government Cloud-Virginia. Check out what the new capability can do for you below:
Overview
You can now monitor end-to-end connectivity and performance between your branch offices and Azure,
March 15, 2018Mar 15, 201803/15/18New and improved Azure Log Analytics is now available in Azure Government. This is biggest upgrade to Log Analytics since its launch and includes new features for powerful search, smart analytics, and even deeper insights. This upgrade provides an interactive query language and an advanced analytics portal,
Networking
April 9, 2018Apr 9, 201804/9/18This blog was contributed by: Abhave Sharma, Program Manager, R&D Networking IDC
We are pleased to announce the availability of ExpressRoute monitoring with Network Performance Monitor (NPM) in Azure Government Cloud-Virginia. Check out what the new capability can do for you below:
Overview
You can now monitor end-to-end connectivity and performance between your branch offices and Azure,
June 6, 2017Jun 6, 201706/6/17This guest blog post is written by Vishwas Lele from Applied Information Sciences (AIS). AIS provides software and systems engineering services to government agencies and businesses across the United States. They specialize in cloud services, DevOps, custom application development and IT services.
March 1, 2017Mar 1, 201703/1/17Are you headed to the Microsoft Tech Summit March 6-7 in Washington, DC? If so, be sure to connect with the Azure Government Engineering team. Among the more than 50 technical training sessions, we are hosting 14 government-specific sessions starting with a can’t-miss “What’s New in Azure Government Cloud” by Tom Keane,
February 2, 2017Feb 2, 201702/2/17Earlier this year we were able to bring VNET peering to Azure Government, with all of the same functions as commercial Azure. We are aware that government agencies often have complex networking requirements. This means that VNET peering is a key ask from our customers and are glad to provide this solution for our customers.
September 27, 2016Sep 27, 201609/27/16We are pleased to announce the general availability of Azure VM and SQL DB deployment and management powered by Azure Resource Manager (ARM) on Microsoft Azure Government. These capabilities are some of the most requested features for Azure Government. This enables the modern management of many more of your cloud resources.
Onboarding
June 20, 2017Jun 20, 201706/20/17Management wants you to move to the cloud. But if you simply lift-and-shift, you are missing out on tremendous opportunities to increase scalability and optimize resources, while also decreasing time and costs. In this episode of the Azure Government video series,
June 12, 2017Jun 12, 201706/12/17We’re excited to announce today that Microsoft has made IoT Hub available in Azure Government, the most secure and compliant cloud platform for U.S. government to run mission workloads.
Internet of Things (IoT) is revolutionizing industries such as utilities and retail,
April 24, 2017Apr 24, 201704/24/17Strengthen security and compliance, uncover critical insights, and modernize infrastructure with Microsoft Azure Government
Checkout the presentations tomorrow for Virtual Azure Gov Discovery Day event! You’ll hear from industry leaders, analysts, and experts featuring Tom Keane, general manager, Microsoft and Steve Michelotti,
March 30, 2017Mar 30, 201703/30/17In this post, we interviewed Azure Program Manager, John Molesky, from the Cloud Health and Security Engineering team with commonly asked questions regarding data security. For many customers, moving to the cloud means a change in processes to manage data, including data destruction and spillage.
March 29, 2017Mar 29, 201703/29/17How to design and build an enterprise infrastructure in Azure using the Azure Resource Manager portal
Getting started in Azure is easy to do, and you can have production workloads running in the cloud in very little time. However, there are some essential aspects of the Azure platform that require some forethought and planning.
March 15, 2017Mar 15, 201703/15/17Azure Government uses the same underlying technologies as commercial Azure, enabling you to use the development tools you’re already familiar with. However, Azure Government provides a physical and network-isolated instance of Azure which results in a higher level of compliance and security.
March 9, 2017Mar 9, 201703/9/17The Microsoft Azure Government platform is rapidly innovating with new services being introduced all the time. We have recently announced HDInsight and Power BI as GA on Azure Government. These data-centric services unlock a world of possibilities for your organization to process massive amount of data.
February 23, 2017Feb 23, 201702/23/17In my last post, I provided you with some simple steps on how to “Get Started” with the Azure Backup service by focusing on the Backup Vault and Policies that are associated with Vaults and VMs. Starting from there, I would like to go to the next and final step,
February 2, 2017Feb 2, 201702/2/17Earlier this year we were able to bring VNET peering to Azure Government, with all of the same functions as commercial Azure. We are aware that government agencies often have complex networking requirements. This means that VNET peering is a key ask from our customers and are glad to provide this solution for our customers.
January 13, 2017Jan 13, 201701/13/17Earlier today Tom Keane, General Manager, Azure announced that Azure Government is the first and only hyperscale commercial cloud service to be awarded an Information Impact Level 5 DoD Provisional Authorization by the Defense Information Systems Agency. In addition, Azure Government regions dedicated to US Department of Defense customer workloads are now generally available.
Operations
March 15, 2018Mar 15, 201803/15/18New and improved Azure Log Analytics is now available in Azure Government. This is biggest upgrade to Log Analytics since its launch and includes new features for powerful search, smart analytics, and even deeper insights. This upgrade provides an interactive query language and an advanced analytics portal,
Partner
June 5, 2019Jun 5, 201906/5/19Snowflake, the data warehouse built for the cloud, is now generally available on Microsoft Azure Government.
Snowflake is a data warehouse-as-a-service, which requires no management and features separate compute, storage, and cloud services that can scale and change independently. Snowflake’s architecture provides complete relational database support for both structured data,
December 11, 2018Dec 11, 201812/11/18We’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,
November 12, 2018Nov 12, 201811/12/18From call to case closure, public safety agencies depend on flexible and secure digital solutions. It’s why we’re pleased to announce Motorola Solutions has selected Microsoft Azure Government as the cloud provider for its public safety software suite.
One of the most comprehensive in the industry,
October 23, 2018Oct 23, 201810/23/18With 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. Inside their supply chain, this requires compiling data on each manufactured component from an enormous number of subcontractors and suppliers of those subcontractors.
October 18, 2018Oct 18, 201810/18/18Protecting 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,
September 4, 2018Sep 4, 201809/4/18Today we’re sharing a guest post by Jose Arvelo, Workplace & Managed Services Practice Manager at Accelera Solutions. He is responsible for leading Accelera’s end user computing and managed services team, focused on helping customers transform their workplace with virtualization, mobility,
August 1, 2018Aug 1, 201808/1/18This blog is a guest post by Tom Rose, vice president, Product Marketing, Nasuni – Microsoft Azure Global ISV of the Year. Nasuni’s cloud file services platform is backed by Azure object storage and helps government agencies store, archive, protect, synchronize,
July 17, 2018Jul 17, 201807/17/18As part of our rapidly growing solution marketplace for Azure Government, we’d like to announce several new Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) marketplace offers. These new offers enable our government customers to purchase marketplace solutions directly through Azure Government, streamlining the procurement process.
In addition,
June 11, 2018Jun 11, 201806/11/18This article was co-authored by Christy Szoke, CoFounder/CMO of Fathym, and the Azure Gov Team
Wherever you live, you’re probably all too aware that inclement weather can have a serious impact on citizen safety and city budgets. And until recently,
June 7, 2018Jun 7, 201806/7/18Got Back Up? Anyone who has a basement or even a closet in their home, knows the sometimes painful necessity of clearing out space and managing storage. Government agencies embarking on digital transformation can also feel the pain of runaway costs due to storage accumulation for backups.
portalpreview
May 1, 2019May 1, 201905/1/1910 new services added to FedRAMP High ATO as part of ongoing work to make commercial innovation more accessible to government agencies
Microsoft now has 67 services covered by the FedRAMP High Provisional Authorization to Operate (P-ATO) for Azure Government in the continental United States.
December 11, 2018Dec 11, 201812/11/18We’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,
October 11, 2018Oct 11, 201810/11/18As we continue to focus on helping government customers secure their mission end to end, we’d like to share a set of new Azure capabilities to help US government customers deliver breakthrough outcomes. For in-depth coverage of these announcements and more,
April 19, 2018Apr 19, 201804/19/18We’re excited to announce that NV-Series virtual machines are now generally available in US Gov Virginia. NV-Series is designed to support visualization scenarios which enables customers to use NVIDIA® Tesla® M60 GPUs and NVIDIA® GRID in Azure for desktop accelerated applications and virtual desktops.
April 18, 2018Apr 18, 201804/18/18We are excited to announce the launch of Azure M-series Virtual Machines in the USGov Virginia region. Azure M-series VMs offer memory up to 4 TB on a single VM with configurations of 64 or 128 hyper-threaded vCPUs, powered by Intel® Xeon® 2.5 GHz E7-8890 v3 processors.
December 18, 2017Dec 18, 201712/18/17We are excited to announce that partners can now re-sell Department of Defense (DoD) Impact Level 5 Azure Government regions to their customers through the Cloud Solution Provider Program (CSP). We’re committed to expanding partner opportunities to bring cloud innovation to their defense customers,
December 7, 2017Dec 7, 201712/7/17In this episode of the Azure Government video series, Steve Michelotti sits down with Steve Downs from the Azure Government Engineering team to discuss Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) on Azure Government. What is VDI? How is it different from traditional Remote Desktop?
December 4, 2017Dec 4, 201712/4/17We are excited to announce that the HDInsight Extension tool for VS Code has been extended to the Azure Government environment. HDInsight developers now can easily access their Azure Government subscription through this extension with a few clicks.
HDInsight Tools for VS Code supports Hive Interactive Query,
October 18, 2017Oct 18, 201710/18/17We are excited to announce that Windows 10 can be deployed from Azure Government Marketplace. You can now run Windows 10 to run Dev/Test scenarios or with your Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution, all in your Azure Government Subscription.
To get started,
July 14, 2017Jul 14, 201707/14/17The audit is to ensure compliance with the FBI Criminal Justice Services Security Policy
At Microsoft, we consider compliance a commitment, not a checkbox. As part of that commitment, we seek opportunities to collaborate with the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) regulators and our customers on our approach to compliance,
Resiliency
May 30, 2017May 30, 201705/30/17Updated: 6/8/2017
Updated again: 7/10/2017
In light of Presidential Executive Order on Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure, the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) is once again top of mind for our community. At Microsoft, we maintain a dedicated CSF program,
May 24, 2017May 24, 201705/24/17Having spent many years in the Public Sector space, I have made a lot of friends on both the contractor and government employee sides of the aisle. So we are always having conversations about how Azure is making the world better both commercially as well as in the Public Sector space.
May 11, 2017May 11, 201705/11/17Microsoft is furthering its commitment to U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) contractors and the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) by announcing support for Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) requirements for Azure Government Services. This allows DoD’s mission partners to host Covered Defense Information (CDI) in Microsoft’s secure,
February 2, 2017Feb 2, 201702/2/17Earlier this year we were able to bring VNET peering to Azure Government, with all of the same functions as commercial Azure. We are aware that government agencies often have complex networking requirements. This means that VNET peering is a key ask from our customers and are glad to provide this solution for our customers.
December 14, 2016Dec 14, 201612/14/16We are pleased to announce the addition of Azure Resource Manager, Automation, Azure Batch, Log Analytics, Azure Media Services, Policy Administration Service/RBAC, Redis Cache, and Scheduler to certification scope in Microsoft Azure Government.
Each of these service offerings has received Joint Authorization Board (JAB) approval for addition to Azure Government’s P-ATO at the High Impact Level.
November 16, 2016Nov 16, 201611/16/16We are pleased to announce that Azure’s Government Cloud has expanded its FedRAMP Provisional Authorization to Operate (P-ATO) with the addition of five new offerings. Service Bus, Notification Hubs, Site Recovery, StorSimple, and Backup have all received Joint Authorization Board (JAB) approval for addition to Azure Government’s P-ATO at the High Impact Level.
October 27, 2016Oct 27, 201610/27/16Co-author: Chad Whalen – VP Cloud Security, Fortinet
Fortinet and Microsoft today announced an extension of their partnership to protect the cloud environments of their joint government customers. The US Federal Government sets the world’s highest security standards for data protection.
October 12, 2016Oct 12, 201610/12/16We are excited to announce the general availability of Log Analytics and the Operations Management Suite Portal in Microsoft Azure Government.
Log Analytics in Operations Management Suite Portal
Log Analytics is a service in Operations Management Suite (OMS) that helps you collect and analyze data generated by resources in your cloud and on-premises environments.
October 3, 2016Oct 3, 201610/3/16With the recent heartbreaking public safety events in New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Minnesota and other locations around the United States, it was inspiring to have the opportunity for Microsoft to participate in the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) User Conference.
September 26, 2016Sep 26, 201609/26/16Many of you have asked us about how we plan and prepare in Azure so that you can learn from our best practices as well as have the peace of mind that your applications, and data, are safe and available in Azure.
Security
August 27, 2018Aug 27, 201808/27/18TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocols provide privacy and data integrity for establishing secured connections between applications. Over the period of time TLS has evolved and new versions have continued to fix vulnerabilities in older versions and also add newer capabilities. As Azure Government customers continue to optimize security of their cloud based applications and solutions,
August 24, 2018Aug 24, 201808/24/18The President’s Management Agenda (PMA) is calling on agencies to accelerate their IT modernization efforts with a continued focus on security. At this month’s meetup, we will discuss how agencies can navigate ATOs and TIC compliance, so they can realize the benefits of the cloud and achieve greater agility while strengthening their security posture.
March 15, 2018Mar 15, 201803/15/18New and improved Azure Log Analytics is now available in Azure Government. This is biggest upgrade to Log Analytics since its launch and includes new features for powerful search, smart analytics, and even deeper insights. This upgrade provides an interactive query language and an advanced analytics portal,
February 5, 2018Feb 5, 201802/5/18
By
Jason Henderson, Cloud Solutions Architect
Kyle Hoyer, Technical Solutions Professional
Derek Strausbaugh, Principal Program Manager, Azure Global
A rapidly increasing number of DoD customers deploying IaaS workloads to Azure have been asking for guidance setting up secure virtual networks and configuring the security tools and services stipulated by DoD standards and practice.
July 14, 2017Jul 14, 201707/14/17The audit is to ensure compliance with the FBI Criminal Justice Services Security Policy
At Microsoft, we consider compliance a commitment, not a checkbox. As part of that commitment, we seek opportunities to collaborate with the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) regulators and our customers on our approach to compliance,
June 26, 2017Jun 26, 201706/26/17Microsoft helping agencies prepare for regulatory revisions
As part of Microsoft’s commitment to meet the applicable requirements of the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Security Policy, it is critical to prepare in advance for future requirements as well. With law enforcement deploying innovative solutions for camera technology,
June 20, 2017Jun 20, 201706/20/17Microsoft hosts Commissioners, Top Deputies, and Legal Staff at Redmond Campus
The Federal Tax Administration (FTA) Annual Conference was host to over 250 Policy leaders such as economists, top deputies, commissioners, budget directors and legal staff assembling to discuss state and federal tax policy.
June 15, 2017Jun 15, 201706/15/17Microsoft is pleased to announce the availability of our Risk Assessment Checklist for the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) for Federal Agencies. The Checklist is available on the Service Trust Portal under “Compliance Guides”. Microsoft worked with our Azure Blueprint Partner, First Information Technology Services (FITS),
June 8, 2017Jun 8, 201706/8/17Microsoft is first and foremost a cybersecurity company. Governments, restricted industries, and millions of individuals depend on the security of our products every day. And with our cloud services, we have taken our commitment to security and compliance to the next level.
June 8, 2017Jun 8, 201706/8/17Microsoft has now contractually committed to CJIS requirements in 29 states.
Meeting the applicable regulatory controls of the CJIS Security Policy is a long-term commitment for Microsoft. We don’t consider it a checkbox, it is a commitment. As part of this commitment,
Storage, Backup & Recovery
May 11, 2017May 11, 201705/11/17As we look to continue to expand and evolve the platform, we are excited to announce two new generally available services in Azure Government: Azure Cosmos DB and Blob Storage (Hot/Cool). Yesterday Microsoft announced Azure Cosmos DB and today we are bringing it to you in Azure Government.
April 24, 2017Apr 24, 201704/24/17Strengthen security and compliance, uncover critical insights, and modernize infrastructure with Microsoft Azure Government
Checkout the presentations tomorrow for Virtual Azure Gov Discovery Day event! You’ll hear from industry leaders, analysts, and experts featuring Tom Keane, general manager, Microsoft and Steve Michelotti,
March 20, 2017Mar 20, 201703/20/17We are happy to announce the general availability of Publish to Web in Power BI Pro for Government.
With Power BI Publish to Web, customers can now easily embed interactive Power BI visualizations online, such as in blog posts, websites, through emails or social media,
March 16, 2017Mar 16, 201703/16/17We are happy to announce the general availability of DSv2-Series and Fs-Series (not to be confused with F-series) virtual machines in US Gov Virginia.
DSv2-series and Fs-series VMs can use Premium Storage, which provides high-performance, low-latency storage for Input/Output intensive workloads.
March 15, 2017Mar 15, 201703/15/17Azure Government uses the same underlying technologies as commercial Azure, enabling you to use the development tools you’re already familiar with. However, Azure Government provides a physical and network-isolated instance of Azure which results in a higher level of compliance and security.
February 16, 2017Feb 16, 201702/16/17One of the biggest questions that government customers may have when migrating to Azure Government, is how they can quickly get up and running. There are a number of different challenges that a customer may have, and many different services that we offer within Azure.
January 5, 2017Jan 5, 201701/5/17Azure Government revamps Azure backup and Azure site recovery services to facilitate advanced capabilities for Government cloud users. This update brings various enhancements, summarized in the table below.
For more information and technical Documentation on Backup and Site Recovery please see Azure Government Documentation.
December 14, 2016Dec 14, 201612/14/16We are pleased to announce the addition of Azure Resource Manager, Automation, Azure Batch, Log Analytics, Azure Media Services, Policy Administration Service/RBAC, Redis Cache, and Scheduler to certification scope in Microsoft Azure Government.
Each of these service offerings has received Joint Authorization Board (JAB) approval for addition to Azure Government’s P-ATO at the High Impact Level.
December 9, 2016Dec 9, 201612/9/16Overview
The Azure PowerShell module includes the Move-AzureRmResource cmdlet that allows you to move a resource to a different resource group or subscription, but it requires the subscriptions to be in the same tenant. What if you want to copy or move a resource group from a personal subscription (e.g.
December 1, 2016Dec 1, 201612/1/16I was recently working with one of our government customers that wanted to make use of a newer offering: Azure Import/Export. Now I know what you’re saying… “Chase, this has been out since 2014.” True, this isn’t a new service to Azure,
Thought Leadership
February 19, 2019Feb 19, 201902/19/19This 3-part blog series on security in Azure Government was co-authored by Robert Jaffe, Sr. Program Manager, and Diego Lapiduz, Chief Information Security Architect, with Microsoft Azure Global Government.
Over the last year, as modernization has accelerated, we’ve started to see many customers turning to cloud services as an asset in fighting evolving cybersecurity threats.
July 30, 2018Jul 30, 201807/30/18This post was contributed by Susie Adams, Chief Technology Officer Microsoft Federal, and Diego Lapiduz, Chief Information Security Architect – Azure Government at Microsoft.
Many government customers that are working to optimize security in the cloud have asked for guidance on how to align with the policies set by the Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) Initiative.
June 7, 2018Jun 7, 201806/7/18Got Back Up? Anyone who has a basement or even a closet in their home, knows the sometimes painful necessity of clearing out space and managing storage. Government agencies embarking on digital transformation can also feel the pain of runaway costs due to storage accumulation for backups.
May 18, 2018May 18, 201805/18/18Agencies such as the DoD can improve their threat detection and response times by using cloud-based security capabilities and cloud intelligence through Microsoft Azure Government. By shifting responsibilities to Azure, the DoD can get more security coverage, which enables them to reallocate security resources and budget to other agency priorities.
May 14, 2018May 14, 201805/14/18Join the Microsoft Azure Government team at the upcoming AFCEA Defensive Cyber Operations Symposium, May 15 – 17, in Baltimore, Maryland.
Mark Russinovich, Microsoft Azure CTO and distinguished author will deliver a keynote on Thursday, May 17 at 10:45 a.m. in Hall E of the Baltimore Convention Center.
May 1, 2018May 1, 201805/1/18Defense department senior leaders have directed DoD to adopt cloud computing to support the warfighter, a direction that will help build a stronger foundation of cybersecurity. The partnership with a dedicated, certified cloud provider can be pivotal. But given the breadth of these solutions,
April 4, 2018Apr 4, 201804/4/18The rapid evolution of technology and the exploitation of data, machine intelligence, and on-demand computing power is changing the requirements of cybersecurity. Fortunately, the tools available to the DoD are changing, too.
March 20, 2018Mar 20, 201803/20/18This blog was contributed by Stuart McKee, Chief Technology Officer, US State and Local Government, Microsoft Corporation
Many government agencies would like to take their first steps toward adopting cloud services. With so many options available, it’s hard to know where to start,
March 14, 2018Mar 14, 201803/14/18A primary challenge for US state and local government agencies is to drive IT innovation while maintaining regulatory compliance. As citizens expectations rise, agencies must work to modernize infrastructure while keeping costs contained. Many agencies are moving to the cloud to achieve both mandates.
February 8, 2018Feb 8, 201802/8/18With rapid technological advances, cities can now transform into smart cities with enhanced and interactive citizen services, better living, and increased economic growth. You can learn more about these opportunities by watching our on-demand webinar, The Benefits of Moving to the Cloud for State and Local Governments.
Use Case
December 10, 2018Dec 10, 201812/10/18With a mission to strengthen our nation’s security by building and maintaining infrastructure, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is a federal agency under the Department of Defense with approximately 38,000 civilians and soldiers delivering engineering services in more than 130 countries worldwide.
September 21, 2017Sep 21, 201709/21/17Azure Site Recovery (ASR) provides capabilities to automate protection and replication of virtual machines, providing a true Disaster Recovery as a Service Solution (DRaaS). ASR allows for data replication to multiple geographically dispersed regions, which provides a significant opportunity for cost savings while enhancing Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR) and COOP capabilities.
May 1, 2017May 1, 201705/1/17Transparency is the foundation of Microsoft’s commitment to CJIS Compliance
Founded on our commitment of transparency, Microsoft hosted the 2nd annual CJIS Summit, offering leaders in law enforcement the opportunity to collaborate directly with our compliance engineers, executives, and our Justice and Public Safety team.
April 13, 2017Apr 13, 201704/13/17For those who could not join us at the Azure Government DC user community’s March Meetup, we are pleased to bring you the replay of “How to Apply Cognitive Services to Your Agency’s Mission” which took place at 1776 in Washington,
February 23, 2017Feb 23, 201702/23/17In my last post, I provided you with some simple steps on how to “Get Started” with the Azure Backup service by focusing on the Backup Vault and Policies that are associated with Vaults and VMs. Starting from there, I would like to go to the next and final step,
Video
January 16, 2020Jan 16, 202001/16/20In this episode of the Microsoft Azure Government video series, Steve Michelotti, Principal Software Engineer on the Azure Government team, talks with Chris Pendleton, Principal PM Manager on the Microsoft Azure Maps team about Azure Maps in Azure Government.
Chris explains what makes Azure Maps different from other mapping solutions available.
January 9, 2020Jan 9, 202001/9/20In this episode of the Azure Government video series, Steve Michelotti, Principal Software Engineer, Microsoft Azure Government, talks with Bingfeng Li, Senior Software Engineer on the Cloud Shell team at Microsoft, about Cloud Shell in Azure Government.
Cloud Shell is a fully featured browser-based command line environment that is ready to run inside the Azure Government portal.
December 18, 2019Dec 18, 201912/18/19In this episode of the Azure Government video series, Steve Michelotti, Principal Program Manager, Microsoft Azure Government, talks with Jason Ingram, Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft, about Azure DevOps Server in Azure Government.
Jason starts by explaining what Azure DevOps Server is – and how it is different than the Azure DevOps SaaS offering.
August 27, 2019Aug 27, 201908/27/19In this episode of the Azure Government video series, Steve Michelotti, Principal Program Manager talks with Jason Henderson, Cloud Architect Microsoft Federal, about the Secure Azure Computing Architecture (SACA) in Azure Government. Jason starts by explaining how the SACA relates to the Secure Cloud Computing Architecture (SCCA) policy,
August 20, 2019Aug 20, 201908/20/19In this episode of the Azure Government video series, Steve Michelotti, Principal Program Manager, talks with Peter Shultz, Program Manager, on the Azure Batch team, about Azure Batch in Azure Government. The discussion begins with Peter describing what Azure Batch is and how Azure Batch is ideal for optimizing workloads that are parallelizable.
August 13, 2019Aug 13, 201908/13/19In this episode of the Azure Government video series, Steve Michelotti, Principal Program Manager, talks with Sachin Dubey, Software Engineer, on the Azure Government Engineering team, to talk about Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS) Gen2 in Azure Government. The discussion starts with an explanation of what ADLS is and many of the advantages of ADLS compared to traditional blob storage.
August 7, 2019Aug 7, 201908/7/19In this episode of the Azure Government video series, Steve Michelotti, Principal Program Manager talks with Kevin Mack, Cloud Solution Architect, supporting State and Local Government at Microsoft, about Terraform on Azure Government. Kevin begins by describing what Terraform is, as well as explaining advantages of using Terraform over Azure Resource Manager (ARM),
August 1, 2019Aug 1, 201908/1/19In this episode of the Azure Government video series, Steve Michelotti, Principal Program Manager talks with Adam Wise, Program Manager, on the Azure Cost Management team, about Azure Cost Management in Azure Government. Adam starts by explaining what Cost Management is – and how it can enable government customers to spend taxpayer money more efficiently.
June 12, 2019Jun 12, 201906/12/19In this episode of the Azure Government video series, Steve Michelotti, principal program manager, Microsoft Azure Government, talks with Alex Frankel, program manager on the Azure Governance team, about Azure Blueprints and compliance on Azure Government.
Historically, Azure Blueprints were compliance “checklists” that helped streamline the ATO process for different compliance regimes.
June 6, 2019Jun 6, 201906/6/19In this episode of the Azure Government video series, Steve Michelotti, principal program manager, Microsoft Azure Government, talks with Sam Chan, senior program manager, Microsoft Azure Government, about the Bot Service and LUIS on Azure Government.
Sam begins by explaining what both the Bot Service and LUIS are – and how these exciting AI technologies can dramatically enhance the productivity of an agency by implementing a custom chat bot.
Virtual Machines
March 13, 2018Mar 13, 201803/13/18Since the launch of Microsoft Jenkins offer in Azure Marketplace in mid-2017, it’s exciting to see the growing number of customers using our solution template to run Jenkins on Azure. Jenkins is a popular open source CI/CD server. With our solution template,
June 1, 2017Jun 1, 201706/1/17We are pleased to share with you the most-recently published VM images from February through March that are now available for Microsoft Azure Government customers.
Published in February- March
Marketplace Images* – Added to Azure Gov and DoD:
*All Marketplace Images now supported in DoD Regions!
May 8, 2017May 8, 201705/8/17Comprehensive, Prevention-Based Security for Azure Government Cloud
Today on Azure Government
The Palo Alto Networks® VM-Series virtualized next-generation firewall on Microsoft Azure allows government agencies to apply the same advanced threat prevention features and next-generation firewall application policy controls used in their physical data centers to the Azure Government Cloud.
March 29, 2017Mar 29, 201703/29/17How to design and build an enterprise infrastructure in Azure using the Azure Resource Manager portal
Getting started in Azure is easy to do, and you can have production workloads running in the cloud in very little time. However, there are some essential aspects of the Azure platform that require some forethought and planning.
March 16, 2017Mar 16, 201703/16/17We are happy to announce the general availability of DSv2-Series and Fs-Series (not to be confused with F-series) virtual machines in US Gov Virginia.
DSv2-series and Fs-series VMs can use Premium Storage, which provides high-performance, low-latency storage for Input/Output intensive workloads.
February 23, 2017Feb 23, 201702/23/17In my last post, I provided you with some simple steps on how to “Get Started” with the Azure Backup service by focusing on the Backup Vault and Policies that are associated with Vaults and VMs. Starting from there, I would like to go to the next and final step,
February 7, 2017Feb 7, 201702/7/17We are pleased to share with you the most-recently published VM images from December and January that are now available for Microsoft Azure Government customers.
Published in January:
ESRI Enterprise 10.5
Cisco ASAv 4 Nic
WindowsServer-HUB2008-R2-SP1-HUB
WindowsServer-HUB2012-Datacenter-HUB
WindowsServer-HUB2012-R2-Datacenter-HUB
WindowsServer-HUB2016-Datacenter-HUB
UbuntuServer17.04-DAILY*
CentOS7.3
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP1 (Bring Your Own Subscription)
* This sku is Powershell/classic Portal only,
November 29, 2016Nov 29, 201611/29/16Last month we announced Azure Marketplace availability in Azure Government, which included individual VM publishing capabilities. Today we’re pleased to announce that solution templates are now supported in the Azure Government Marketplace portal.
Solution templates allow you to bundle multiple Azure services and images into a template that enables customers to deploy all solutions at once,
November 18, 2016Nov 18, 201611/18/16Azure Government is excited to expand our partnership with Bitnami via the Azure Government Marketplace beyond the initial offering in Image Gallery. We are happy to announce the first wave of open source images published by Bitnami to the Azure Government marketplace.
October 25, 2016Oct 25, 201610/25/16Riverbed Technology is bringing Riverbed SteelHead CX to the Microsoft Azure Government Cloud. Government customers are now able to understand, optimize, and control applications and data across the hybrid enterprise, extending into the cloud.
With SteelHead CX in Azure you get:
Riverbed’s #1 optimization solution in the Azure Government cloud enabling peak performance of applications across any network,
Web & Mobile
August 27, 2018Aug 27, 201808/27/18TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocols provide privacy and data integrity for establishing secured connections between applications. Over the period of time TLS has evolved and new versions have continued to fix vulnerabilities in older versions and also add newer capabilities. As Azure Government customers continue to optimize security of their cloud based applications and solutions,
March 29, 2018Mar 29, 201803/29/18Creating and managing your Azure Functions in Azure Government just got easier with the availability of the Azure Functions portal experience. The rich portal experience allows you to create, manage and monitor your functions. You can develop using C#, F# or JavaScript and integrate with a wide variety of services using triggers and bindings.
May 3, 2017May 3, 201705/3/17Continuous integration (CI) and continuous deployment (CD) help teams reliably deliver quality apps to end customers at a faster pace of update. From code through build, test, and deployment you can define efficient and fully managed pipelines that automate and control the entire process.
October 13, 2016Oct 13, 201610/13/16We are excited to share the general availability of Azure App Service on Azure Government. App Service is a cloud platform which enables developers to build, deploy and run powerful web apps, mobile back-ends and API apps that connect to data anywhere in the cloud.
