Google has achieved FedRAMP compliance for its Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS (News - Alert)) offerings in a partnership with Onix Networking Corp. Included in this compliance designation are the elements of multi-tenant public and hybrid Google (News - Alert) Apps cloud instances and the multi-tenant public cloud Google App Engine. The announcement comes ahead of what will likely be a number of continuing and emerging opportunities for the federal government to utilize the various cloud-based advantages of Google’s services.

The United States Government is committed to finding ways to integrate technological advantages wherever possible. There are a number of specialized advantages to the adoption of cloud-based services that become accessible every time a service passes this compliance regimen. Cost-efficiency, security, and innovative elements of cloud technologies are suitable for government purposes once they pass the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP).  The program utilizes a standardized approach to certifying various elements of a cloud program. Assessments will validate information technology elements such as continual monitoring, security standard validation, and authorization methods, to name a few.  Independent auditors certify all procedural and technological elements of the process, which leads to compliance authorization.

With customers in the federal space that have access to Google’s Cloud services, they can have confidence that the solutions adhere to security and compliance standards. Ultimately, it is likely that this landscape will appear in hybrid manifestations of cloud services. Applications will be able to freely utilize different specialized tiers of computing resources programmatically and on-demand as their needs require. Additionally, Google’s services have gone to great lengths to integrate secure federation and identity features into the products. As Google has continually revised and structured its cloud pricing models in a downward trend, the impetus for government and agency adoption can be expected to increase.