Microsoft Lands 16 New Cloud Computing Deals with Public Sector Clients

Microsoft Corp. said that it has secured new cloud computing agreements with 16 government agencies and educational institutions for the company’s Online Services.

Curt Kolcun, Microsoft vice president, U.S. Public Sector, disclosed the new accounts at the vendor’s U.S. Public Sector CIO Summit held earlier this week in Redmond, WA.

“Public sector organizations are looking for enterprise-grade cloud solutions, and that means providing high levels of security, functionality and support,” Kolcun said.

Among its new cloud computing government clients, the vendor listed the City of Winston Salem, NC; City of Alexandria, VA; King County, WA; Sound Transit, WA; City of Andover, MN; Vernon Hills, IL Police Department; State of Colorado, Department of Labor and Employment; State of Idaho, Department of Labor; City of Chicago, IL; Reedy Creek Improvement District, Lake Buena Vista, FL; Michigan State Senate; City of Carlsbad, CA; and, Poarch Band of Creek Indians tribal government in southern Alabama.

In addition, the vendor’s new cloud computing education clients include Portland Public Schools, Oregon; State University of New York at Albany; State University of New York, Fashion Institute of Technology; and, Vanderbilt University.

“We’re seeing government and education organizations of every size and dimension using Microsoft cloud solutions to help reduce costs and increase productivity in support of their missions,” Kolcun said.

Nick Jwayad, Portland Public Schools chief information officer, said that Microsoft’s cloud computing services will expand the district’s available services and lower its costs.

“Choosing Live@edu best aligned with the larger technology direction we are taking at Portland where we are working to expand and enrich the tools and services available to our customers,” said Jwayad.

“Live@edu promises to enhance the services we currently provide to teachers, broaden the reach of services to students and reduce our costs by at least a third,” he said.

The school district said that it plans to deploy Microsoft's cloud services to 8,500 faculty and staff in the fall and to high school students in the 2011–12 school year.

Microsoft said that the new public sector clients for its cloud computing services add to a prior list that includes the state of California, the state of Minnesota, U.S. Department of Agriculture, California State University campuses at Long Beach, Pomona and San Francisco, the State University of New York, New York City Public Schools in partnership with ePals Inc., Kentucky Department of Education, and the University of Georgia.