I’m sure you are aware of Microsoft Azure, but are you aware there is special version of Azure for U.S. governments?

Microsoft Azure Government is a cloud computing service for federal, state, local and tribal U.S. governments.  It was generally available in December 2014 after a year in preview.  To see the Azure services available for the government, see the services available by region.

By default, Azure Government ensures that all data stays within the U.S. and within data centers and networks that are physically isolated from the rest of Microsoft’s cloud computing solution, operated by screened U.S. persons.  It’s in compliance with FedRAMP, a mandatory government-wide program that prescribes a standardized way to carry out security assessments for cloud services.  It also supports a wide range of other compliance standards, including Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Department of Defense Enterprise Cloud Service Broker (ECSB), and the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS), which is meant to keep safe fingerprint and background-check data that has to be shared with other agencies.

Microsoft also offers government versions of Office 365, which is hosted in a dedicated “cloud community” reserved only for government customers.  There is also a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Government.

Also just announced:

Two new physically isolated regions, which will become available later this year, are part of Azure Government and are meant to host Department of Defense (DoD) data.  These regions will meet the Pentagon’s Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Impact level 5 restrictions and are, according to Microsoft, “architected to meet stringent DoD security controls and compliance requirements.”

Level 5 data includes controlled unclassified information.  Classified information (up to ‘secret’) can only be stored on systems that fall under the level 6 classification.  To gain level 5 authorization, cloud providers have to ensure that all workloads run (and all data is stored) on dedicated hardware that is physically separated from non-DoD users.

In addition to its new work with the DoD, Microsoft is also expanding its support for FedRAMP, the standard that governs which cloud services federal agencies are able to use.  The company today announced that Azure Government has been selected to participate in a new pilot that will allow agencies to process high-impact data — that is, data that could have a negative impact on organizational operations, assets or individuals.  Until now, FedRAMP only authorized the use of moderate impact workloads.  Microsoft says it expects all the necessary papers for this higher authorization will be in place by the end of this month.

Azure Government is also on track to receive DISA Level 4 authorization soon.

More info:

Microsoft Cloud for Government