Esri Managed Cloud Services Receives Census Bureau Authorization

Esri Managed Cloud Services has achieved an agency Authorization to Operate (ATO) at the moderate level from the US Census Bureau. Esri worked with the bureau to build and host the new Census Business Builder application, introduced at the America’s Small Business Development Centers annual conference in San Francisco on September 9.
The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) changed its website to reflect the new status. Esri Managed Cloud Services is the first system to transition from CSP Supplied Package to Agency FedRAMP Authorization. For other federal agencies, the designation signifies that the Esri program has met each agency’s own security requirements.

Esri Managed Cloud Services is tailored specifically for geographic information system (GIS) technology to offer a cloud environment that is compliant at the FedRAMP moderate level, meaning it satisfies the stringent security requirements that federal agencies must meet before operating in a cloud computing environment.

Esri Managed Cloud Services provides ready-to-use instances of ArcGIS, Esri’s industry-leading GIS platform, in the cloud. Customers can adapt it to suit their needs, either as an alternative within their own infrastructure or in conjunction with their own servers. The scalable, secure environment is supported by experienced GIS professionals to ensure that GIS data and services are available whenever needed.

FedRAMP is a government-wide program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services. Being FedRAMP compliant and agency authorized means a cloud computing system has established and documented a highly secure environment that has withstood comprehensive, rigorous review prior to federal agencies being authorized to engage the system.

The Esri Managed Cloud Services system supports federal agencies seeking to comply with the White House Cloud Computing Strategy. Adopted in 2011 to save money, the Cloud First policy requires federal agencies to evaluate safe, secure cloud computing options before making any new investments.

GIS users are moving to the cloud in large part to take advantage of the flexibility and potential cost savings it provides. Using Esri Managed Cloud Services helps users reduce risk, speed deployment, improve performance, and reduce operational costs in a secure environment.

Because Esri Managed Cloud Services was designed from the ground up to meet the needs of federal customers, it can also meet the robust security demands of users from other sectors such as law enforcement, health care, and retail.

For more information about the Census Business Builder application, visit http://www.census.gov/data/data-tools/cbb.html.

To learn more about FedRAMP, visit https://www.fedramp.gov/about-us/about/.

For a complete description of the Esri Managed Cloud Services FedRAMP-compliant system, visit http://esriurl.com/emcsFedRAMP.

Source: Esri