Microsoft BPOS-Federal Cloud Wins FISMA Certification

The Microsoft BPOS-Federal cloud suite is now FISMA certified — meaning that federal agencies can rest assured that the product meets or exceeds baseline security and compliance requirements. And as a result, 120,000 government users at the USDA are moving to the BPOS-F platform. But the larger story is the timing of this announcement in light of Microsoft’s ongoing legal battles vs. Google and the Google Apps for Government suite.

A quick refresher in case you’re just joining us: Back in November 2010, Google filed a lawsuit to block Microsoft from deploying BPOS at the US Department of the Interior, claiming that they didn’t properly consider a FISMA-certified Google Apps for Government solution. In January 2011, Google won an injunction, and the battle continued behind closed doors. But earlier in April, Microsoft made the very public claims that Google was lying about that FISMA certification.

When Google replied to Microsoft’s claims with the explanation that they had merely re-submitted Google Apps for Government to get re-certified – a bureaucratic necessity that Google taunted Microsoft would discover for itself when they got their FISMA certification.

To their credit, the Microsoft blog entry about the new BPOS-F FISMA certification doesn’t take any direct digs at Google or address the matter directly, showing a certain level of restraint. They say that it’s just a sign of their commitment to enhancing protections and assurances for customer data, especially when those customers are with the government.

Oh, and Microsoft also says that they’ll seek FISMA certification for Office 365, the next-generation replacement for BPOS, which is in beta now.

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