Federal
State & Local
Products and Technologies
How To Buy
Solutions
How-to and tips
Essential Topics Guides
Worldwide Government
Worldwide Public Safety & National Security
Partners
Contact Us
Government Blogs
Bright Side of Government
FutureFed
 
Government Solutions Center
     
Microsoft government solutions: Telework

Microsoft telework solutions for government agencies

Communicate securely from any location to perform day-to-day tasks and react quickly to emergencies.
 

On December 9, 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010, providing federal agencies with guidelines and timelines for offering telework solutions to qualified employees.

Download these now
Related solutions
Webcast
Related links
Demo
Downloads
Products and technologies
 
Share this on:
LinkedIn del.icio.us Digg StumbleUpon
 
 
Get Office file viewers
Get Adobe Acrobat Reader
 
 

 

With increasing awareness of environmental sustainability, enhanced employee productivity and retention, and innovations in mobile and Internet technologies, telework has become an attractive and practical alternative for government workers. Some agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), have already implemented telework programs with positive results.

Historically, even the most progressive employers had concerns about allowing staff to work away from the office. These concerns include:
  • Possible reduced productivity.
  • Loss of control over sensitive data.
  • Managers' loss of real-time access to employees.
  • Ability of remote staff to work as a team.
  • Difficulties in providing secure network access for off-site workers.
  • Potential access from a wide variety of user devices.
  • Expense, effort, and time to implement enabling technologies.

Microsoft provides a breadth of telework solutions that can help address these concerns, using technology that most agencies already own today and that employees know how to use. Microsoft also understands the special requirements that federal agencies have to securely control and manage access to sensitive information. Our solutions are highly interoperable on top of an infrastructure designed to provide powerful protection—whether deployed on agency premises or in the cloud. You can further evolve your infrastructure by moving some or all of your solutions to the cloud, taking advantage of the latest advances in technology without having to deploy and manage them in house.

Microsoft telework solutions allow you to change where you work without having to change how you work.

Combining our latest products—Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Microsoft Lync Server 2010 (formerly known as Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2), Microsoft Exchange 2010, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2— can provide the optimal technical experience. Previous versions of these Microsoft products also help enable telework, so even if you have not deployed the latest products, Microsoft can still help meet your telework needs.
Microsoft technologies can help agencies in key areas, including:
  • Single number reach. One phone number can reach an employee virtually anywhere on any device.
  • Presence. This helps you to contact others and helps others to reach you with a variety of methods, including IM, email, and telephone.
  • Collaboration. Integrated capabilities enhanced by search technologies enable you to access resources and knowledge.
  • Protection. Microsoft Forefront offers an integrated line of access and identity management products, and Microsoft System Center products provide continuous network protection and quarantine support.

  • Unified communications and JITC.

    By breaking down old barriers separating telecommunications, Internet, intranet, and mobile communications, Microsoft Lync 2010 enables you to make the most of your current technology. In addition, the Microsoft unified communications platform is now on the 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 total cost of ownership.
You can get started now by contacting Microsoft Services (AskFed@microsoft.com) or a Microsoft partner such as:

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

The following partners can help you implement a Microsoft telework for government solution.

Citrix Systems, Inc. provides the latest in virtual desktop delivery, data security, WAN optimization, and remote support and collaboration, helping to make it feasible and cost effective for federal employees to work productively from anywhere, anytime, and on any device. Citrix on-demand telework solutions work for an agency’s entire staff and can be repeatedly leveraged, helping to save time and money while providing for easier user implementation. Contact (800) 4-CITRIX [(800)-424-8749] or publicsector2@citrix.com.
Request information

Dell, Inc. provides cutting-edge teleworking solutions allowing your employees to work from virtually anywhere, stretching your technology dollars and increasing productivity. Military operations overseas can count on Dell Federal to help establish complete wireless communications for remote bases. We also make it easy to set up and secure remote workers in some of the most remote places. Contact (800) 727-1100.
Request information

HP was one of the first major vendors to offer a comprehensive and highly secure telework solution to the government sector. As an early entrant in the field, HP’s director of Federal Government Affairs was asked to testify at a U.S. Senate Subcommittee Hearing on telework in 2007. Today, dozens of government agencies and departments rely on HP for their telework needs.
Request information

NetApp storage solutions can help you reduce costs, simplify data management, and improve the availability of your agency’s telework infrastructure. NetApp technology allows you to provision thousands of virtual desktops in minutes while providing users continuous access to their virtual desktops with 99.999% storage availability and automated disaster recovery. For more information about NetApp storage solutions, contact your NetApp representative or reseller, or call (877) 263-8277.
Request information

Planet Technologies helps clients around the world develop telework solutions ranging from VPN and intranet access to the provisioning line of business applications to home or mobile users in a more secure, flexible manner. Planet technology experts work with each client to define telework requirements, leveraging as much of the existing technical platform as possible. Planet Technologies then crafts a telework road map that provides the best-fit solution. Contact (301) 721-0100.
Request information

Polycom has a comprehensive portfolio of solutions that enable dispersed teams to stay connected even from remote locations. Our industry-leading collaborative solutions deliver high-quality communications to any environment—mobile, desktop, or conference room. Polycom’s visual collaboration solutions enable face-to-face interactions and unite dispersed teams with as little as two users and scaling to thousands. Regardless of the environment, Polycom delivers solutions to transform the future of government communications Contact (800) 765-9266.
Request information

VBrick Systems helps realize the benefits of telework via video streaming. The integration of VBrick Video Buddies into Microsoft Office Communications Server/Microsoft Lync enables teleworkers to access streaming videos—whether live or on-demand—so that information, such as executive broadcasts or training videos, can be viewed over the Internet. Optimizing their effectiveness, teleworkers can bridge distances with others by sharing videos and collaborating using chat, voice, and web conferencing within Office Communications Server/Lync. 
Request information

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, and local government, or education.

Find a partner

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.