FAA Moving to Secure Microsoft Cloud
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is migrating more than 60,000 users to a Microsoft cloud, as part of a larger effort to get U.S. federal agencies to adopt the government’s ongoing “Cloud First” policy.
CSC has started work on a $91.4 million contract to replace the FAA’s current email system with Software as a Service. CSC is migrating FAA users from Lotus Notes to the cloud-based Microsoft Office 365 for email, messaging, teleconferencing, calendaring and other applications to improve collaboration among employees.
Cloud computing brings higher flexibility and lower costs to the FAA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). The cloud-based Microsoft Office 365 can save costs in a number of ways, such as letting users share documents in one place instead of piecing together information from disparate systems.
“Utilizing Microsoft Office 365, CSC’s as-a-service expertise will allow the FAA to benefit from the transparency, collaboration and on-demand capabilities that cloud computing offers,” says Leif Ulstrup, vice president and general manager of CSC’s National Business Services. “We have worked closely with the FAA for 40 years, and we commend its efforts to move toward a secure, cost-effective and flexible enterprise-wide cloud solution.”
Cloud modernization
The FAA’s stated cloud computing vision is to identify and migrate suitable IT services to a cloud environment to reduce costs and increase IT provisioning speed, while keeping the skies safe. One goal for the FAA is to automate the provisioning of computing resources, which will save money and improve efficiency.
“The FAA needs to move to disruptive technologies that enable them to perform their mission with fewer dollars,” says Brad Stein, CSC’s account executive for the FAA. “This is the first major acquisition program where they are leveraging leading-edge cloud technology to improve their operational efficiency.”
The migration is massive by any standards: 60,000 FAA email boxes and 20,000 DOT email boxes. CSC is starting with a discovery phase that will determine the scope of work. The team is working closely with technology managers at the FAA and Microsoft to establish a road map for the transition, which is scheduled to take place over six to nine months.
“Microsoft is pleased to be part of the CSC team as we move the FAA securely to the cloud, improving the agency’s email, team collaboration and productivity with Office 365,” says Curt Kolcun, vice president of U.S. Public Sector for Microsoft. “The Administration’s Cloud First policy is helping critical agencies such as the FAA not only save real dollars, but also better apply resources toward meeting their strategic mission.”
JIM BATTEY is a writer for CSC’s digital marketing team.
Related Content
- The Business Value of SAP in the Cloud The process of upgrading or modifying an SAP environment is often time-consuming and complex. It may be time to migrate your SAP landscape to the cloud.
- Why Cloud? The Answer May Surprise You The overriding driver pushing companies to adopt cloud computing isn’t cost savings. It’s not even improving the speed of business.
- Key Questions Emerge as Companies Adopt Cloud Architectures Cloud computing is transforming the IT infrastructure of today’s enterprise, helping companies reduce costs, expand customer relationships and support mobile workers.