The development of a telework infrastructure has taken on new urgency given the recent federal response to the COVID-19 outbreak. In March, the White House officially directed all federal agencies to offer “maximum telework flexibilities to all current telework eligible employees,” sparking the widespread implementation of remote work capabilities. While the benefits of remote capabilities are clear, compliance regulations around the highly-sensitive data associated with government work have historically held organizations back from integrating remote work practices at both the state and federal level.
With federal agencies now implementing telework technologies across the board at an accelerated rate, the need for industry partners that can provide secure, compliant solutions is greater than ever before. Nutanix Xi Government Cloud has now achieved Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) Moderate authorization. Xi Government Cloud includes Xi Frame, a multi-cloud desktop as a service (DaaS) platform, and Xi Beam, a multi-cloud cost governance tool.
What is FedRAMP Authorization?
FedRAMP authorization was created to provide a standardized security assessment framework for products and services provided to the federal government by private vendors. Authorized cloud solutions are listed on the FedRamp marketplace, a searchable and sortable database, which is then available to federal IT decision makers seeking technologies that fit their needs from both a regulatory and technological perspective. Since its implementation,the FedRAMP program has aided in the streamlining of compliance processes and security assessments via the FedRAMP marketplace.
What Does This Mean for Federal Agencies?
From its inception, the Nutanix Xi Government Cloud, which consists of Xi Frame and Xi Beam, was specifically built with government customers in mind. Xi Frame is a cloud-based Desktop as a Service (DaaS) platform that supports high-performance remote desktops running in AWS GovCloud, Azure Government, and Google Cloud FedRAMP regions, as well as on-premises desktops using Nutanix AHV. Xi Beam is a multi-cloud cost optimization and governance service that supports consolidated resource management, spend visibility, and cost optimization for agencies of all sizes, and addresses the realities that so many federal agencies are now facing. With the adoption of these services, workers handling sensitive, unclassified data are able to work from any location if the need arises, making it an optimal solution for federal IT networks.
The Xi Government Cloud is uniquely positioned to help agencies efficiently and securely offer telework capabilities to more employees, over an extended period of time. Xi Frame helps enable federal agencies to trust that their sensitive data is secure at all times, and more confidently expand their work-from-home policies to include more personnel, while also reducing the cost and maintenance burdens typically associated with onsite agency desktops. Xi Beam also allows agencies to more closely manage cloud cost, as they look to cloud solutions to provide flexibility during this time.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced organizations at all levels to reimagine the way they work, presenting unprecedented obstacles that require rapid but carefully considered action to keep operations in motion. Understanding the pressures that come along with this new shift and the lasting long term effect it will have on the federal government’s perspective on telework, we are committed to providing IT professionals at the state and federal levels with tailored solutions to meet their specific needs.
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