Demystifying FedRAMP

by Chris Wiedemann, Senior Analyst

It’s been almost five full years since federal CIO, Vivek Kundra debuted his 25 Point Plan for IT Reform and it’s safe to say cloud computing has finally arrived on the federal level. A paradigm shift has taken place in the highest ranks of federal IT management. We’ve seen this in the data center consolidation initiative that resulted in private clouds and the rapidly increasing adoption of public Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offerings. Cloud computing will be a focal point for the government as they continue to see flat budgets and emphasize the importance of agile software development.

However, despite the growth in the federal cloud market, one crucial piece of the puzzle remains poorly understood by most of industry: the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, better known as FedRAMP. Intended to be a common set of security requirements for cloud service providers in the federal space, FedRAMP adoption has been patchy at best, with government end users reluctant to give up certification authority over solutions in their environment, leaving industry partners unclear on what needs to be certified.

Further complicating the issue, OMB has already set several deadlines for cloud systems in the federal space to be FedRAMP compliant. If you sell IT solutions that are baked into federal private clouds, or into commercial cloud service providers (CSPs) working with government, it’s essential that you understand how FedRAMP works, which of your tools need to be compliant, and how best to get certified.

immixGroup will be addressing all of this at the 2^nd Annual Government IT Sales Summit in our session entitled, Cloud Security and the FedRAMP Forecast. You’ll hear directly from from Claudio Belloli, GSA’s FedRAMP program manager for cybersecurity on November 19^th. Claudio will discuss the latest developments in FedRAMP and walk you through the certification process. This insightful session will arm sales and marketing personnel with the actionable information you need to make your cloud solutions resonate with government. Register by October 23 for Early Bird Savings!