Salesforce.com Unveils the Government Cloud

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CLOUDFORCE 2012 -- Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), the enterprise cloud computing (http://www.salesforce.com/cloudcomputing/) company, today unveiled the Government Cloud to accelerate government's transformation for the social era.  The Government Cloud will include a dedicated, multi-tenant instance of salesforce.com's cloud infrastructure that will allow U.S. federal, state, and local agencies to rapidly deploy the latest social and mobile technologies in compliance with Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) requirements.  The Government Cloud also includes AppExchange for Government, a new app marketplace for the public sector where government agencies can find, try and deploy cloud apps that meet their needs.  Additionally, the Government Cloud includes the Salesforce Government Partner Accelerator Program, which will train an army of 1,000 integrators by the end of 2012 to rapidly transform government IT with Salesforce.

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Comments on the News:

• "The bureaucracy of legacy government IT is preventing agencies from embracing innovative technologies that deliver immediate value," said Vivek Kundra, executive vice president, emerging markets, salesforce.com. "We must end the era where government spends millions of dollars and waits years for IT projects that never work.  Now, salesforce.com offers a solution the government needs to break down barriers to innovation and eliminate wasteful IT spending."
• "We are committed to providing quality services that deliver value for Colorado taxpayers and simply make government work better," said John Conley, executive director, Colorado Statewide Internet Portal Authority.  "Salesforce.com's cloud technologies, including applications on AppExchange for Government, are helping us increase efficiency and provide a more responsive government that delights the constituents we serve."
• "AppExchange for Government provides a great opportunity to develop and deliver apps for government with the social, mobile and trusted capabilities of the Salesforce Platform," said Michael Togyi, President and CEO of BasicGov, a provider of licensing, permitting and enforcement apps. "We are excited to be one of the first partners to leverage the app marketplace to help our customers transform government for the social era."
• "The social revolution represents an amazing opportunity for companies like ours to help government transform for the social era," said Dennis Wall, senior vice president at Cloud Sherpas.  "We're excited about the Salesforce Government Partner Accelerator Program as we continue to build our business deploying salesforce.com's social, mobile, and open cloud computing technologies."

New Dedicated Government Instance: Meeting the Needs of U.S. Government

To accelerate government's transformation to the social enterprise, salesforce.com will deploy a dedicated instance of its cloud computing infrastructure for U.S. federal, state, and local government customers and government-authorized entities.  The salesforce.com government instance will be composed of dedicated databases and supporting infrastructure designed to meet the regulatory and compliance needs of U.S. government customers. 

The salesforce.com government instance will be built on the company's trusted, multi-tenant infrastructure, which will allow agencies to scale instantly and get easy, automatic upgrades.  The dedicated, multi-tenant government cloud instance will provide separate application and database servers supporting government customers, housed within salesforce.com's U.S. production data centers.  Using secure software access controls, government data will be logically separated on the government instance, meaning an agency's data will reside in common databases along with other government customers. 

The dedicated government instance will offer the same high level of security, reliability and availability as other salesforce.com instances and will support existing security and privacy standards and certifications including FISMA, SSAE 16 (formerly SAS 70), ISO 27001, PCI-DSS Level 1, Safe Harbor, and TRUSTe.

New AppExchange for Government: The App Marketplace for the Public Sector

The new AppExchange for Government provides a central cloud app marketplace where government agencies can drive their social transformations and reduce costs by quickly identifying applications to meet their needs.  AppExchange for Government is a one-stop shop for everything from help desks and asset management, to program and project management, to constituent relations and more. Launching with more than 60 apps selected specifically for government and public sector agencies, AppExchange for Government includes apps like:

• BasicGov: BasicGov is a reliable, secure application built on Force.com that allows cities, counties, state governments and government agencies to streamline permitting and inspections, code enforcement, planning, licensing and citizen access.
• DocuSign: DocuSign is a leading eSignature application built on Force.com that helps organizations streamline workflows to accelerate transactions, reduce costs, and delight constituents with the fastest way to send, sign, track, and store documents in the cloud.
• SchoolForce: SchoolForce includes essential Student Information System (SIS) modules such as attendance, behavior, homework, student records and grade book, as well as collaboration and document management – all of which can all be shared with parents and students via a Web portal. SchoolForce powers data driven improvements in student outcomes and represents a significant advancement in the measurement of K-12 student, teacher and school performance by tapping the power of cloud technologies and advanced analytics.

AppExchange for Government builds on the tremendous success of salesforce.com's AppExchange which currently has more than 1,400 cloud apps that have been test driven or deployed more than one million times by salesforce.com's more than 100,000 customers.

New Government Partner Accelerator Program: 1,000 Integrators to Deploy Salesforce

In the past, the lack of integrators who were trained to deploy cloud technologies was an obstacle to government's transformation to the social enterprise.  With the Salesforce Government Partner Accelerator Program, now 1,000 integrators will have a path to today's social and mobile cloud by the end of 2012. The program will train integrators on social and mobile salesforce.com cloud solutions for government, allowing these companies to build their businesses for the future.  Starting now, interested integrators can visit salesforce.com/gpa and sign up to learn how Salesforce can help government agencies transform into social enterprises.

• How much will it cost? There is no charge for the program.
• Where is it? Initially, classes will be held at salesforce.com's offices in Herndon, VA and offered via the Web.
• When will it begin? The first session will take place Thursday, May 17, 2012
• Who is eligible? Small companies that are integrators and interested in building their businesses around salesforce.com cloud solutions.

Government Agencies Trust Salesforce.com to Power Their Social Transformations

Salesforce.com currently counts two-thirds of U.S. federal Cabinet-level agencies and governments in more than 80 percent of U.S. states as users of its trusted cloud services.  Salesforce.com has received the FISMA Authority to Operate (ATO) at the moderate impact level with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Department of the Interior (DOI), and General Services Administration (GSA), adding to existing ATOs at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  Customers at state government levels across the country, including the Colorado Statewide Internet Portal Authority, New Jersey Transit, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the Texas Department of Information Resources are all leveraging salesforce.com's social, mobile, and open cloud computing technologies.

Pricing and Availability

• The salesforce.com government instance is currently scheduled to be available in the third quarter of calendar year 2012.
• AppExchange for Government is generally available today.
• Customers who purchase salesforce.com technologies should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. 

Follow @Salesforce on Twitter and Suggested Tweets:

If you'd like to tweet about the Government Cloud, here are a few suggested tweets to send to your followers:

• Click to Tweet: @Salesforce launches the Gov't #Cloud to transform gov't 4 the #socialenterprise. Check out new AppExchange for Gov at gov.appexchange.com
• Click to Tweet: Want to build a business deploying the @Salesforce Gov't #Cloud? Check out the new Gov't Partner Accelerator Program at salesforce.com/gpa

Additional Resources:

• Like salesforce.com on Facebook: http://facebook.com/salesforce
• Find cloud apps for government agencies at AppExchange for Government: http://gov.appexchange.com
• Learn more about the Government Partner Accelerator Program at: http://salesforce.com/gpa

About Salesforce.com

With more than 100,000 customers, salesforce.com is the enterprise cloudcomputing company that is leading the shift to the socialenterprise. Social enterprises leverage social, mobile and open cloud technologies to put customers at the heart of their business. Based on salesforce.com's real-time, multitenant architecture, the company's platform and application services allow customers to:

• Create employee social networks with Salesforce Chatter, Salesforce Rypple and Salesforce Force.com.
• Develop customer social networks with the Salesforce SalesCloud, Salesforce Data.com, Salesforce ServiceCloud, and Salesforce Site.com.
• Connect with customers on public social networks with Salesforce Heroku, Salesforce Radian6.
• Empower small business to become social enterprises with Salesforce Desk.com and Salesforce Do.com.
• Extend a company's social enterprise with apps from the leading enterprise app marketplace, AppExchange.
• Run apps on Database.com, the first social enterprise database.

Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase salesforce.com applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce.com has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRM." For more information please visit http://salesforce.com, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.

©2012 salesforce.com, inc.  All rights reserved. Salesforce.com, Salesforce, Chatter, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Radian6, Jigsaw, AppExchange, Force.com, Heroku, and all associated logos are trademarks of salesforce.com, inc. in the United States and other countries. Salesforce.com offers its Siteforce products and services in Germany under the Force.com Sites trademark. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.  Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Salesforce.com