FutureFed Blog

PortfolioStat Sessions Set Deadlines for Agency IT Consolidation

By Scott Thatcher, Director, Microsoft Federal, Civilian and Healthcare

Federal agencies, Congress and the White House have talked for years about the necessity of cutting wasteful IT spending and squeezing all the value they can out of existing IT assets. Now, agencies have a new challenge: mandated procedures and deadlines to start putting IT consolidation into practice.

My colleague ...

Maximizing Value from a “Shared First” Approach

By Greg Bateman, Senior Director, Acquisition Programs, Policy and Strategy, Microsoft Federal

On May 2, 2012, Steven VanRoekel, the U.S. Chief Information Officer, released the Federal Information Technology Shared Services Strategy, which is a critical component of the OMB’s

May 14, 2012 – July 31, 2012

By Phil West, Director of Solutions Development, Office of Civic Innovation

Today’s budget realities are forcing the military to find new ways to improve mission performance while spending less. An interesting example of how the military wants to address these goals showed up in a recent U.S. Army solicitation for “Low Cos...

Broadcasting Board of Governors Turns to the Cloud to Spread Democracy

By Susie Adams, Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft Federal

Reaching a global audience of 187 million people across 100 countries, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) informs, engages, and connects people around the world in support of freedom and democracy. Through networks like Voice of America,

By Kent Cunningham, Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft Federal, Civilian and Healthcare

By Jeremy Dallman, Senior Security Program Manager, Microsoft Security Engineering Center

The increased federal focus on critical infrastructure protection in recent years is a welcome development. Essential national assets such as power grids, water treatment plants and traffic control systems are beginning to realize the need for IT security improvements. Today’s sophisticated, persistent cyber threats have led more critical...

Meet the latest 2012 Election Technologies

By Stan Freck, Director, Office of Civic Innovation, Microsoft U.S. Public Sector

If you thought technology in the 2008 presidential race was a big deal, wait until you see what’s gearing up for 2012.

The social media-fueled grassroots campaigns that helped propel Barack Obama to the White House four years ago galvanized political activists across the ...

Joining Forces to Increase Job Opportunities for Military Spouses

By Chris Cortez, MajGen, USMC (Ret.), General Manager, Microsoft Strategic Operations, Americas and Asia Pacific

Today, I was proud to represent both my country and my employer, Microsoft, by standing in support of military families at “Joining Forces: Launching the Military Spouse Employment Partnership” which took place at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. Jo...

Office 365 Brings Next-Generation Cloud Productivity and Services to the Federal Government

By Greg Myers, Vice President, Microsoft Federal

Starting today, federal agencies will have access to a powerful new set of enterprise class cloud-services that deliver e-mail, collaboration and communication capabilities to agency information workers on the device of their choice, using familiar Microsoft Office Applications and their web-enabled companions that enable new levels of remote productivity. By Kent Cunningham, Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft Federal, Civilian and Healthcare

Federal agencies have made improving operational productivity and efficiency through targeted use of technology a top priority. It was my honor last week to testify before a Congressional Committee about how the House of Representatives can lead by example in this area.

Glimpsing the Future at D.C. TechFair 2011

Yesterday, Microsoft Research hosted TechFair 2011 at the Microsoft Innovation and Policy Center in Washington DC, to offer attendees a sneak peak at some of the innovations we believe will help shape the future of technology in the public sector.

Microsoft Research is our brain center for advancing state-of-the-art computer science and software engineering. Some of our ...

U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs Improves Social Services for 2 Million People

By Amir Capriles, Senior Director, USPS Dynamics

It’s always great to see recognition given where it is due, but even better when a winner gains that recognition by making a positive impact in the world. That’s why we at Microsoft are thrilled that the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) next week will become a By Tim Solms, General Manager, Defense, at Microsoft

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 (OCS 2007 R2) has passed two major milestones in providing unified communications to our U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and other federal customers.

The first accomplishment is that OCS 2007 R2 is now certified at the Joint Interoperability Test Command Private Exchange Branch-2 (JITC PBX-2) level on...

Random Hacks of Kindness Tackles Disaster Preparedness Through Killer Apps

By Patrick Svenburg, Director, Microsoft Public Sector Developer & Platform Evangelism

The 2011 Atlantic hurricane season starts today, with NOAA predicting a heavy season like last year. Combine that with the tornadoes that ripped through many Southern states earlier this spring and ongoing flooding on the Mississippi River, and ...