The rapid pace of technology-fueled change has made this an exciting time full of possibilities for organizations of all sizes – particularly in the public sector. Innovations around mobility and cloud are driving efficiencies and increasing impact across all industries and sectors. However, it is about more than just efficiency, it is about delivering new and exceptional experiences. Advancements in data management across devices are helping to reignite the passion of the workforce resulting in superior service that constituents demand and deserve.
Read more at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/government/blogs/transforming-service-in-the-cloud-with-microsoft-dynamics-crm-online-for-government/default.aspx
I've been sharing this list of resources with my customers lately, so thought it would be good to post it here as well.
Last July, we put the word out that Microsoft will host a unified enterprise technology conference in May. We told you it will bring together the best of previously individual events – the Management Summit, the Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Project, and TechEd conferences – and then take it to the next level, based on what our customers and partners have asked for. Now, we have more to share.
Microsoft Ignite is May 4-8 in Chicago at McCormick Place. Satya Nadella will keynote and will be joined by technical and business leaders including Brad Anderson, Joe Belfiore, Dave Campbell, Peggy Johnson, Chris Jones, Julie Larson Green, Gurdeep Singh Pall and many others.
Ignite rounds out our schedule of key events for professional communities in the first half of 2015. We start with Convergence 2015 in Atlanta, March 16-19, the place where business leaders gather to explore solutions. //Build in San Francisco, April 29-May 1, is where developers will hear the latest about our platform strategy, technologies and opportunities. Then we turn to Ignite, followed by the Worldwide Partner Conference in Orlando, July 12-16, for our enormous partner community.
Ignite is the new entry, so here’s more about it.
If you are on the hook to help your company make the right tech moves in the new world of mobile and cloud, Ignite is the show for you. For the first time ever, we’re putting under one roof the education, vision and guidance for the full spectrum of our enterprise solutions. Our best and brightest minds, along with thousands of your peers, will be there to help you chart the course for your team, your company and your career.
We’re rewiring what a Microsoft enterprise tech conference is and does, from how you will plan your week ahead of time, to how you’ll use social media to get the most out of the event, to how you’ll enjoy the city of Chicago. Whether you’re a senior tech strategist or a hard core, hands-on admin, you’re going to be…well, stoked.
Ignite is where you’ll come up with your next great idea, based on what you learn about the upcoming wave of products and services. We’re going to cover it all, across cloud infrastructure and management, big data and analytics, productivity, unified communications, operating systems, mobile devices and more. You’ll get the practical guidance and the insight you need to build a game plan for that big project. You’ll learn from people who have reached the pinnacle of success, overcome the impossible and learned the hard lessons. You’ll dive deep with our experts, share stories with other professionals, and have some laughs, too.
In addition to hundreds of sessions, technical training, hands-on labs and opportunities for certification, we’re making it a priority to give attendees direct access to hundreds of Microsoft engineers and executives. Our top gearheads and thought leaders will be there in force, ready to step down from the podium and get into the weeds with you.
Take a look at what Ignite has to offer. Registration is open now. Don’t wait too long to start making the case to your management why you can’t miss it.
Today, Microsoft announced the latest installment of our compliance commitment: With Office 365 for Government, Microsoft is able to support customer compliance with IRS 1075. IRS 1075 provides guidance to ensure that the policies, practices, controls, and safeguards employed by recipient agencies adequately protect the confidentiality of Federal Tax Information (FTI) and related financial tax return data. Read the blog entry for much more information.
Three courses around Office 365 security are now available through the Microsoft Virtual Academy.
As always, all training on the Microsoft Virtual Academy is free!
We've been talking about this for a while, but this "Office Garage Series" episode covers the DLP and mail encryption capabilities of Office 365. We're consolidating all compliance policies in one place and letting you define a single policy that can apply across multiple services. We're giving users the ability to encrypt emails to outside users easily and efficiently. Finally, we're adding tools so iOS and Android devices can consume RMS protected content. If you have 13 minutes to spare, this would be a great use of your time!
http://blogs.office.com/2014/12/17/garage-series-bringing-data-loss-prevention-sharepoint-first-look-new-office-365-message-encryption-viewers-ios-android/
Microsoft has released a new component for Office 365, called Office 365 Video. This portal, built on top of SharePoint Online and leveraging Azure Media Services, will allow customers to build a secure, company-wide destination for posting, sharing and discovering video content. From onboarding new employees, to distributing a CEO message company wide, to community contributions, video is now a first-class citizen to power and enrich your internal communications.
Initially being released for our commercial cloud customers, this solution will appear in the Government Cloud early next year. It's an example of some of the "ready-to-go" portal solutions that Microsoft is building to save our customers time, effort and cost. Read about the capabilities and security on this Office Blog post: http://blogs.office.com/2014/11/18/introducing-office-365-video/
At TechEd Europe, we announced that new features would be coming soon to Microsoft Intune.
New Intune standalone features that will be released as part of this service update include:
Also, as part of this service update, you’ll notice that all references to Windows Intune have been updated to Microsoft Intune. This name more accurately represents Intune’s cloud-based mobile device management (MDM) and mobile application management (MAM) capabilities across iOS and Android platforms, as well as Windows. You can read more about the rebrand on Intune blog here.
On December 10 and 11, Jeremy Young, Sr. Service Engineer in the Manageability Team of Microsoft IT, will dive into and answer questions around the process and tools used by Microsoft IT for managing the configuration of servers in the datacenter, focusing on System Center Configuration Manager and patch management disciplines.
Microsoft IT Live Online is a free monthly event series that provides IT professionals with insight and will help answer questions around some of the industry’s hottest topics. Join each month to hear Microsoft IT subject matter dive deep into real-world best practices, strategies, tactics and lessons learned that can be used for deploying and operating Microsoft products and services in your organization.
Register today by clicking on your preferred time. Register and add the event to your calendar
Wednesday, December 10 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM Pacific Time
Thursday, December 11 8:00PM – 9:00 PM Pacific Time
Interesting blog posting on the measures that Microsoft has in place to prepare for emerging security threats to Office 365 as well as Microsoft Azure.
Read it here: http://blogs.office.com/2014/11/05/inside-cloud-assume-breach-practices-action-microsoft-prepare-emerging-security-threats-office-365/
While I have been mainly focusing on cloud related items in this blog, I thought it would be good to post about a great video on Microsoft's Channel 9 about the next version of Windows Server. After all, Windows Server is part of Microsoft's Cloud OS strategy which allows customers to deploy and leverage cloud technologies in their own datacenters in order to deliver IT as a service in a scalable, cost effective manner. Jeff Woolsey is one of the smartest guys at MS when it comes to talking about Windows Server and Hyper-V, so getting a chance to see him present is something not to be missed. It's just over an hour long, perfect for lunch time viewing!!
http://channel9.msdn.com/events/microsoft-techncial-summit/Microsoft-Technical-Summit-2014/Optimizing-Your-Datacenter-with-Windows-Server-vNext
As the first part of Microsoft's effort to provide more detailed service information about the Office 365 Government Community Cloud (GCC), a new service description page has been added to Service Description pages on TechNet. At some point in the near future, we are also expecting a separate page describing the roadmap and timelines that are specific to the O365 GCC.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office-365-government.aspx
Last week at the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) Summit, we celebrated SQL Server 2014’s strong momentum and introduced new services that further expand Microsoft’s big data platform. We announced a major update coming to our database-as-a-service, Azure SQL Database, and easier access to our machine learning service, Azure Machine Learning. These new updates continue our efforts to bring big data to everyone by delivering a comprehensive platform that ensures every organization, every team and every individual is empowered to do more and achieve more because of the data at their fingertips.
Read the SQL Server Blog post here: http://blogs.technet.com/b/dataplatforminsider/archive/2014/11/05/microsoft-announces-major-update-to-azure-sql-database-adds-free-tier-to-azure-machine-learning.aspx
We are pleased to announce that Microsoft Office 365 has been granted FedRAMP Authority to Operate (ATO) by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS OIG). Office 365 is a multi-tenant cloud that includes government specific instances of services such as Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Lync Online. Government-specific instances of Office 365 services are designated for use solely by U.S federal, tribal, state and local government customers, and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs).
Office 365 has completed testing against the stringent set of FedRAMP requirements, based on NIST 800-53, by Dynamic Research Corporation, a FedRAMP accredited Third Party Assessment Organization (3PAO). The HHS OIG authorization further validates Office 365 security at the Moderate impact level to store, process and protect sensitive government data.
Read the rest of the announcement and find an FAQ here: http://blogs.office.com/2014/11/20/office-365-receives-fedramp-authority-operate-ato-hhs-oig/
On his Enterprise Devices and Infrastructure blog, Simon May discusses the top 5 mobility scenarios IT pros ask about. Take a look at how Microsoft Enterprise Mobility Suite can help with provisioning email, configuring VPN settings, applying security policies, and more.
http://simon-may.com/top-5-mobility-challenges-solved-microsoft-ems/
Microsoft reports annually on our citizenship priorities, commitments, and performance. The Microsoft 2014 Citizenship Report details Microsoft’s work during the last fiscal year to serve globally the needs of communities and fulfill our responsibilities to the public. I'm very proud of the importance that Microsoft places on giving back. I think it makes us stand out among most of the other large technology companies you may know about.
Microsoft's total annual giving surpassed $1 billion for the first time, with cash donations of $119 million and in-kind donations worth $948.6 million. The Microsoft YouthSpark Initiative is on track to surpass our goal of creating opportunities for 300 million youth over three years, having created opportunities for 227 million youth to date, including 124 million in FY14. We launched Office 365 for Nonprofits in 92 countries around the world, providing $55 million worth of Office 365 subscriptions to nearly 11,500 nonprofits globally.
Find more highlights and download the full report from this page.
Lot's of activity in Azure this week - almost too much to keep up with! We’ve announced the general availability of Azure Automation, Runbook Gallery, Event Hubs, and Microsoft Antimalware, plus the public previews of Azure Data Factory, Stream Analytics, Azure Batch, Marketplace, Hortonworks and Cloudera images, and SQL Database business continuity features. Related pricing changes have also been announced.
Azure Automation and Runbook Gallery - For more information, please visit the Automation webpage.
Azure Event Hubs - For more information, please visit the Event Hubs webpage.
Microsoft Antimalware for Cloud Services and VMs - available at no additional charge!! - For more information, please download the Microsoft Antimalware white paper.
Azure Data Factory public preview - For more information, please visit the Data Factory webpage.
Azure Stream Analytics public preview - For more information, please visit the Stream Analytics webpage.
Azure Batch public preview - For more information, please visit the Azure Batch webpage.
Announcing Microsoft Azure Marketplace - (formerly Azure Store/Azure Gallery) - For more information, please visit the Marketplace webpage or access the Marketplace in the existing Azure Management Portal and Azure Preview portal.
Hortonworks and Cloudera images in public preview in the Marketplace - This offer is the result of the ongoing partnership between Microsoft and Hortonworks, plus a newly announced partnership with Cloudera. It also complements our current Hadoop-as-a-service offering, Azure HDInsight, which provides a managed PaaS experience for our customers.
Azure SQL Database business continuity features with new visualizations in public preview - Now available to try in the Azure Preview portal
If you are watching, you have really seen Microsoft Intune grow up in the last year. If you think it's just for managing Windows devices, you're missing the big picture. Intune is a cloud-based, cross-platform management solution that can solve your mobile device management (MDM) headaches. And now we've added some capabilities around application management as well. Check out the latest info at the Microsoft Intune Blog:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoftintune/archive/2014/12/09/new-mobile-application-management-capabilities-coming-to-microsoft-intune-this-week.aspx
"Building upon the Intune announcements made at TechEd Europe and the recent November service update, we will be rolling out the next Microsoft Intune service update between December 9, 2014 and December 12, 2014. This service update introduces new mobile application management (MAM) capabilities, protecting Office 365 data and much more."
We've talked about this for a while, and it's finally here! You have been able to do IM and audio between Lync and Skype, but now you can also do video! Imagine how this capability will give organizations, especially government, to connect directly with customers and citizens in a simple way. Potential cost savings could be amazing! Since we announced that the next version of Lync will be re-branded as Skype for Business, the timing could not be better.
Take a look at the announcement blog post: http://blogs.office.com/2014/12/05/video-calling-skype-lync-available-now/
The Microsoft Security Intelligence Report is the most comprehensive threat intelligence report in the industry. It provides data and insights on malware, exploits and vulnerabilities based on data from more than a billion systems worldwide and some of the busiest online services. It also includes actionable guidance to help IT Professionals manage risk. The latest report, Volume 17, focuses on the first half of 2014, with trend data for the last several quarters. Download the report at http://www.microsoft.com/sir
Want to make sure the data on your PC or laptop is backed up regularly? Microsoft just announced the ability to protect Windows client devices with Azure Backup. Don't backup to a USB drive and then sit that drive on a shelf in your office! This is a fast, cost-efficient solution for backing up your data. Read more on the Azure Blog - http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2014/12/16/azure-backup-announcing-support-for-windows-client-operating-system/
A great blog post from the CIO of Texas discussing the success her state is having with Microsoft's cloud solutions. It's a quick read, but covers some of the important things that sets Microsoft apart from other cloud solution providers.
http://blogs.office.com/2014/12/12/serving-26-million-texans-secure-cloud-based-computing-leap-forward-state-government-agencies/
The Cloud + Enterprise News Bytes Blog regularly provides posts that consolidate all the announcements from the two groups. The December post has lots of information about new capabilities we've added. Check back monthly to see if you can keep up!
Read the full blog entry for more details on each item.
http://blogs.technet.com/b/stbnewsbytes/archive/2014/12/11/cloud-enterprise-release-announcements-for-december-11-2014.aspx
We are excited to announce the general availability of the Azure Websites Migration Assistant. It is now publicly available at https://www.movemetothecloud.net.
Now you can easily migrate to Azure Websites from your existing websites that run on Internet Information Service (IIS) 6 or later. Azure Websites Migration Assistant can analyze your IIS server installation, identify which sites can be migrated to Azure Websites, highlight any elements that cannot be migrated or are unsupported on the platform, and then migrate your websites and associated databases to Azure with just a few clicks. Please take a look at this Getting Started Guide to learn how to use the tool and it’s limitations. Finally, please look at this recent blog post from Owais Shaikh to view short videos on how the Azure Websites Migration Assistant works.
If you are challenged in moving off of Windows Server 2003/2003R2 because you have some web sites that need to be moved, this could be your ticket!!
Yesterday we kicked off a global conversation about how Microsoft is reinventing productivity—across the board—to create a world where people can truly make the most of their time and lead more fulfilling lives. Connecting people across all of life’s moments – to talk, to share, to collaborate – is at the heart of helping people make the most of every moment. To that end, and for our business customers, we are bringing together the familiar experience and user love of Skype with the enterprise security, compliance, and control from Lync to create the most loved and trusted communications platform for doing things together.
Read the rest of the announcement here: http://blogs.skype.com/2014/11/11/introducing-skype-for-business/