Why Dynamics CRM Online for Government is essential to Microsoft's US federal stance

Microsoft announced recently that Dynamics CRM Online for Government will be generally available in January 2015. The specially built and hosted version of Dynamics CRM will provide an environment for US government agencies that complies with the latest federal security requirements. The move is part of an effort to boost Microsoft's position among the small pool of IT companies competing in the highly regulated but lucrative federal IT space.

FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program), is a government-wide program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services. While complying with these guidelines, federal agencies are also expected to pursue a cloud-first strategy.

Microsoft Azure was granted FedRAMP joint authorization board provisional authority to operate in the fall of 2013. The Azure cloud for the US government will offer federal customers a dedicated community cloud for data, applications and infrastructure. Datacenters supporting the program are isolated from the Microsoft Azure public cloud, and are geographically distributed to support business continuity scenarios.

Dynamics CRM Online for the US government will be a separate instance for government customers that will support cloud and hybrid scenarios like integration with the Azure and Office 365 government community clouds, according to company officials. This type of support is critical if Microsoft wants to be competitive in the US government space with the likes of Google and Amazon.

"Having a US government cloud is an essential element for being competitive in the government marketplace, not just for federal but also for state and local government, which also follow the federal security standards," says James Townsend, founder and CEO at ...