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Microsoft’s cloud computing platform is now accredited to store and communicate data securely up to the UK Government’s Impact Level 2 classification. Reading, UK. — 04/04/13 — Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, Windows Azure, has been awarded Impact Level 2 (IL2)...

The Coalition Government has made data and transparency defining themes of its agenda for this Parliament. The untapped potential in the economic value of data is a new opportunity. George Osborne announced a number of Open Data commitments in his 2011 Autumn Statement to help drive growth –...

Open government initiatives are currently going on all over the world. As I look around to see all the data that is publicly available, it amazes me of how far our governments have come along to promote transparency, connect and engage with citizens, and to realise the full potential of mobile, social...

Windows Azure, Windows 8, Devices and Open Source - The Microsoft Cloud Day on June 22 nd at the Vue Cinema in Fulham, London is a free conference for public sector developers where you can find out more about the latest innovations in Microsoft technology for the cloud and open source. If you are...

CloudStore | Office 365 | Windows Azure | Dynamics CRM Online | Microsoft Consulting Services Microsoft is starting to get lots of enquiries about our cloud services on the G-Cloud CloudStore, and so are our cloud SME partners too! As you may have heard Microsoft has been successfully appointed...

The role of any IT department in an organisation is to deliver business value through information technology. This distils down to delivering a set of applications to the business users to enable them to do their roles more efficiently. Anything outside of the application is inherently overhead, whether...

Over the coming weeks, we have invited our colleague and cloud expert Nick Umney from Microsoft's UK National Technology Office, to post a series of blogs on all things cloud. These weekly blog posts will also touch upon the following topics as the series continues: delivering IT as a service ...

Microsoft has today been appointed to the Government Procurement Services’ ‘G-Cloud’ Framework following the completion of the formal bid process. The business has been successfully appointed on all four Lots: IaaS, PaaS, SaaS as well as cloud consulting services. In addition, a number...

The forecast for Open Data content is looking extremely bright following a decision by the government to release Met Office UK weather information to the public. We at Microsoft are supporting the initiative with our Windows Azure platform via Marketplace. This effectively unlocks daily and hourly...

When it comes to interacting with government agencies, I am sure many of us think of stacks of complex, multi-page forms asking for information on all sorts of aspects of our lives. IEG 4 , an innovative company based in the UK, is making this a thing of the past for local authorities. Through the use...

‘Heterogeneous’ is one of those over-used IT buzzwords that, stated more simply, recognises that most real-world IT environments are a combination of different applications, systems and devices from a multiplicity of vendors. Understanding the complexities of any heterogeneous IT environment...

I first brought your attention to the series of Microsoft System Center 2012 regional launch roadshow events in an earlier blog posting . Demand is proving to be very high for these events and we have just added a new date to the series for Edinburgh on Tuesday February 28th 2012. Microsoft provides...

Open data is driving both innovative applications and the practical use of cloud computing. A colleague has just brought me up to speed on how a variety of public sector organisations are using Windows Azure to enable citizen connection, the provisioning of open data and Government-as-a-Service applications...

Last week, I brought to your attention a free white paper on Cloud learning – What IT Professionals Need to Know . Now, I would like to point you towards a selection of free education resources on cloud computing available from the Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA). The Microsoft Virtual Academy...

“ Open Government and Open Data have the power to transform absolutely the way government and society work for the better .” These are the words of Francis Maude, Minister for Cabinet Office, in his foreword to the recently-published public consultation on Making Open Data Real . As well...

As both time and travel budgets are tight for everyone, I thought you would be interested in this programme of Microsoft Tech Days Online that we are running on Thursday October 27th. There are three tracks available on the following topics in the morning of October 27th (09:00-12:00): Collaborate...

IEG4 is a Microsoft solution partner that provides solutions for online processing of Housing Benefit claims that enable local authorities to eliminate the cost of printing claim forms and, in the case of Trafford Council for example, reduce the time it takes to process a housing benefits claim from...

Microsoft partner IEG4 have been working with a number of public sector organisations in the UK to reduce cost and improve response times using cloud solutions based on Windows Azure . An in-depth case study that can be found here . Highlights include Trafford Council reduced the time it takes...

Transport for London (TfL), the integrated transport organisation responsible for the United Kingdom’s capital city, wanted to give its customers more real-time data about journey options. By encouraging developers to use TfL data to create new applications for commuters, the transport operator...

Our colleagues in the Microsoft Corporate Government team have been busy producing a series of eBooks on Cloud Computing in Government that I thought were well worth bringing to your attention. They do carry the minor ‘health warning’ that they are written with USA State and Federal Government...

Applications are the bridge between your business processes and the IT department. An Application Platform provides a set of capabilities that help you get better value from your application portfolio. Application Platforms typically comprise three layers: Infrastructure: The Infrastructure layer...

The 3rd Cloud Computing World Forum takes place at the Olympia Conference Centre in London on June 21-22 this year and Microsoft has extensive public sector content in the programme in support of our sponsorship of this year’s event. Among the speakers you will hear from in the Forum conference...

Unlocking information to open up government and make it more accessible to citizens is an initiative that is rapidly gaining momentum. http://data.gov.uk is where to got to see how quickly software developers and individual citizens are making innovative use of the increasing volume of public sector...

Over the last 12-18 months, we have made numerous postings here about Microsoft’s approach to cloud computing and examples of where public sector customers worldwide are already using the technology as an integral component of their ICT. As UK Public Sector organisations across the United Kingdom...

Here is an ideal opportunity for you to find out what you need to know about Microsoft’s approach to, and technology for, private cloud computing . Together with Microsoft partners we are hosting a series of Hyper-V cloud events the length and breadth of the UK during March and April 2011. The...