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Microsoft government solutions: Continuity of operations

Continuity of operations solutions

With continuity of operations solutions from Microsoft, you can prepare your agency to sustain operations as you address and recover from crisis situations.

 

How quickly could your agency recover from a disaster? Can the collaboration tools you use every day safeguard your operations and servers against the unexpected? What if your staff was unable to reach the office?

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Maintaining essential business functions during an emergency and through recovery requires a combination of planning, preparation, agility, and adherence to your continuity of operations (COOP) plan. Not only does an agency have to keep its daily business operations running smoothly, but also the IT staff must protect its data while simultaneously making it available remotely.

Microsoft combines collaborative emergency management and unified communications to help sustain your agency during emergency situations. A COOP solution from Microsoft can:

  • Help ensure continuous performance during an emergency, using your telework infrastructure, the cloud, or a combination of both.
  • Maintain network and data protection with interrelated encryption technologies that can help protect even highly sensitive data.
  • Take advantage of familiar tools that can serve as immediate lifelines when disaster strikes.
  • Back up electronic records and duplicate them at a second location in case the primary systems are damaged or unreachable.
  • Help provide agency staff and partner agencies with reliable communications and access to vital information.
  • Facilitate work and collaboration from remote locations during a crisis using a wide range of devices.
  • Help achieve a swift and organized recovery from an emergency and help resume full service to customers.
  • Guide training and test exercises to help make sure that participants are clear on their roles and that backup systems are working.
  • Telework.

    A key element of any COOP plan is an agency’s ability to support its telework program—enabling its employees to work remotely from virtually any location. Without a solid, active telework program, an agency’s ability to keep operations running may be in jeopardy. In a way, your telework program is a daily review of your COOP capabilities. Microsoft provides a robust telework solution using technology you may already have. Learn more about Microsoft telework solutions for government.
  • Unified communications.

    A unified communications platform incorporates all of your communications into one easy system. This provides the ability to connect from different devices and remote places. The interoperability with technology you may already own, including Microsoft Office, can help reduce the learning curve of employees and can even increase productivity. To help maximize the effectiveness of your existing technology investments, read more about Microsoft unified communications solutions for government.
  • JITC certification.

    In addition, the Microsoft unified communications platform is now on the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) Approved Product List at the PBX2 classification (JITC certification). This means that DoD customers can start replacing single-function PBX voice systems with a JITC certified comprehensive solution combining PBX voice, video, web conferencing, IM, and presence from within just one unified communications platform, helping to reduce both capital and operational total cost of ownership.

You can get started now by contacting Microsoft Services (AskFed@microsoft.com) or a Microsoft partner:

If it’s vital to government, it’s mission critical to Microsoft.

The following Microsoft partner can help you implement a continuity of operations solution.

E●Sponder is a software development company providing solutions to ensure continuity of operations in emergency situations. Corporations and Government agencies leverage these highly collaborative tools to assess risk, identify gaps, and build plans to manage their response across the enterprise. The same software that is used by emergency response agencies can then be utilized to provide incident command and management. E-SPONDER solutions are used extensively throughout the world in managing both planned and unplanned events. Contact (314) 686-4100.
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HP has the people, processes, and technologies to provide a collaborative approach and adaptive infrastructure solutions to give you the agility you need to meet your total continuity of operations requirements—at your pace, on your path, and within your budget. The experts at HP can help government agencies identify, assess, manage, and mitigate the risk and impact of service disruption in emergency situations.
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NetApp storage solutions allow you to affordably meet your continuity of operations (COOP) requirements while helping you to maintain availability across a broad spectrum of recovery point and recovery time objectives. Integration with deduplication can help increase your agency’s network and storage efficiency and enhance performance. Ease of administration provides added operational efficiency so you can do more with less. For more information, contact your NetApp representative or reseller, or call (877) 263-8277.
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VBrick Systems enhances continuity of operations (COOP) communications via video streaming over Internet protocol (IP). Fully integrated with Microsoft Office Communications Server/Microsoft Lync and  Microsoft SharePoint technologies, VBrick video streaming solutions enable thousands of agency and department users to view situational awareness broadcasts simultaneously. Officials can facilitate restoration of essential functions by sharing real-time first responder feeds across multiple agencies, and VBrick video streaming solutions help minimize disruption of normal activities during emergencies.
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Microsoft Services was established to help customers maximize the potential of their Microsoft technology investments. Through architecture, implementation, and sustainment services, customers receive a level of vision, expertise, and insight that only Microsoft provides. Microsoft Services, together with our partners, matches agency requirements with a safety net of support and direct access to the Microsoft teams that develop both the products and future product direction. Contact AskUSPSS@microsoft.com to talk with a services representative for Federal, State & Local government, or education.

Search for additional partners in the Microsoft Public Sector Partner Solution MarketPlace, an easy resource for finding technology partners that offer a broad range of products, services, and solutions based on Microsoft technologies. The marketplace includes packaged software, solutions offerings, and training from Microsoft Gold Certified Partners, Microsoft Certified Partners, and registered members.

Microsoft makes no representations or warranties, either expressed, implied or statutory, regarding any company presented herein or its products or services. The inclusion of a company does not imply endorsement by Microsoft of the company or its products or services. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.