During the U.S. Public Sector CIO Summit Microsoft announced a new version of BPOS; Business Productivity Online Suite federal. This new version of BPOS meets a whole new level of security, including that the environment is housed in a separate, dedicated infrastructure at secure facilities. Microsoft says that access to these systems is limited to a small number of individuals via biometric access controls. In compliance with ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations), these individuals must be US citizens who have been taken through tight background checks.

At this point the BPOS federal version is available to US federal government agencies, related government contractors and others that may require this higher level of security.

Next to the above security features in the BPOS federal suite, currently BPOS meets the following standards:

• International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001
• Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) 70 Type I and Type II
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
• Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
• Title 21 CFR Part 11 of the Code of Federal Regulations
• Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2
• Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) compliance

There is a video available in which the new version is discussed: