Accenture Federal Services has announced a partnership with Microsoft to launch an end-to-end Cloud Modernization and Migration Factory on Microsoft Azure Government to support federal agencies and ecosystem partners.
The duo will collaborate to meet the stringent security standards required for those operating across the national security space, including the Special Access Program community.
Featuring a secure “connection-in-a-box”, the Cloud Modernization and Migration Factory on Azure aims to streamline the onboarding of remote federal sites to “air-gapped” Azure Government Secret and Top Secret classified clouds to ensure the highest level of security and protection for the nation’s most sensitive data.
“For federal agencies and our Defense Industrial Base and aerospace clients, connecting to the cloud and hardening applications is the most challenging part of any cloud journey,” said John Goodman CEO of Accenture Federal Services.
“Accenture Federal Services is excited to partner with Microsoft in launching the Cloud Modernization and Migration Factory on Azure to help our clients meet their mission objectives through highly capable, protected, monitored and resilient connected services.”
Microsoft Azure Government Secret and Top Secret classified clouds provide national security leaders with access to industry-leading capabilities, including AI, to gain valuable insights from data, deliver greater agility and enable unified cybersecurity capabilities to protect critical data.
Through the partnership, federal leaders and defense industrial base users will be able to access new and emerging capabilities, such as advanced generative AI models and 5G connectivity.
Jason Zander, EVP of strategic missions and technologies at Microsoft, said: “We’re thrilled to have Accenture Federal Services serve as a key federal systems integrator partner for Microsoft’s classified clouds. When delivering solutions in government air-gapped clouds, deep cybersecurity expertise, a strong networking and cloud engineering ethos, and a relentless focus on mission success are critical.
“Microsoft’s world-class infrastructure, combined with Accenture Federal Services’ deep expertise in designing and operating secure clouds, will help agencies accelerate the migration of classified workloads to the cloud.”
In July last year, Accenture Federal Services secured a $94m US Army contract to transform and maintain the agency’s Identity, Credential and Access Management system.
As part of this collaborative effort, Accenture is helping automate the Army’s traditional method of manually provisioning user accounts to empower the agency to make real-time access control decisions.