Late last year, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
and the distinguished list of contributors released the CSIS Commission on
Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency. This document provided several
recommendations for improving the nations cybersecurity. As an approach for
federating service oriented architecures, cloud computing technology could
be used to implement some of their recommendations. One in particular is
their recommendation for a National Office for Cyberspace (NOC) and a new
National Security Council Cybersecurity Directorate (NSCCD). Along with the
relevant agencies, these organizations would:
"Assume expanded authorities, including revised Federal Information Security
management Act (FISMA) authorities, oversight of the Trusted Internet
Connections (TIC) initiative, responsibility for the Federal Desktop Core
Configuration (F... (more)
Layer 7 Technologies has announced the availability of the Layer 7 SecureSpan
Virtual Appliance for cloud governance. The Virtual Appliance offers all the
features of the SecureSpan family of hardware appliances, including
sophisticated runtime governance, agent-less SOA management and
industry-leading XML security in a VMware or ESX-based soft appliance. The
Layer 7 Virtual Appliance for cloud governance allows organizations to secure
cloud-based interactions, monitor service level conformance and adapt to
changing conditions and needs.
Traditionally, Layer 7 customers have deployed the SecureSpan Virtual
Appliance as a budget-friendly alternative to hardware appliances. The
SecureSpan Virtual Appliance for cloud governance incorporates the new Layer
7 Enterprise Service Manager (ESM), which is a lightweight method of
centrally managing, tracking and measuring app... (more)
With the proliferation of Internet-based tools and forums to share
information, deliver announcements or warnings and create collaborative
networks, it’s become apparent that “self-policing” strategies for
controlling and managing the risks involved in delivering content through the
corporate firewall can’t mitigate most risks.
Most corporations and government agencies do indeed require, as terms of
employment and various legislation, that care be taken and policies or
procedures followed when engaging in online public discourse or otherwise
moving content from the corporate-controlled environment to the public
Internet.
Over the past years, many good tools and governance frameworks have been
developed as a routine matter of enabling Internet content posting,
distribution and syndication – but these have mostly focused on automation,
protection and monitoring proced... (more)
Earlier this month, Melvin Greer and I teamed up on a Military Information
Technology piece. Melvin is a senior research engineer and cloud computing
chief architect at Lockheed Martin, and a member of NCOIC’s Cloud Computing
Working Group (CCWG). Titled "Cloud Computing's next Challenge", the article
provides an update on the work being done by the NCOIC CCWG. After focusing
on cloud computing interoperability and portability issues, the group is
expanding it's collaboration efforts with other cloud computing
organizations. The CCWG’s initial efforts are focused on developing a
hybrid cloud computing (HCC) capability pattern.
This net-centric pattern contains a set of instructions based on expert
guidance that, when applied correctly, gives developers pragmatic advice
about building interoperable products and systems. It also includes
recommendations about which op... (more)
The Whitehouse Office of Management and Budget has announced that, from now
on, cloud computing would be the "default approach to IT" for US government
agencies. The move comes as an element of a sweeping set of government IT
reforms begun last summer intended to "close the IT gap" between the public
and private sectors. The cloud-first policy is expected to reduce a 2000+
data center infrastructure by as much as 40%, lowering costs, improving
security and performance, and speeding up the deployment of new applications.
Closing the "IT Gap"
Last June, writing on the OMB web site, then-Director Peter Orszag made this
observation:
"When many of my colleagues went from the cutting-edge, social media-focused
Obama presidential campaign into the federal government, they remarked that
it was like going from an X-box to an Atari.
"Indeed, a significant IT gap has develope... (more)
Cloud Expo 2011 New York $500 Savings here!
In December 2010, the U.S. Federal government awarded cloud computing
contracts that totaled over $2B in value. It also announced a mandatory
"cloud first" policy, requiring every agency to deploy at least three of its
services to the cloud. This transition represents a monumental change in
Federal IT strategy. It may also threaten the business model of some of the
world's largest IT providers.
In his session at the 8th International Cloud Expo, Kevin Jackson,
Engineering Fellow with NJVC, will explore the economic impact of GovCloud
from the position of the information technology and professional services
industries. He will also explore the new business strategies for this new
environment.
Speaker Bio:
Kevin Jackson is an Engineering Fellow with NJVC, one of the largest
information technology solutions providers suppor... (more)
In my experience, for there to be widespread adoption and agreement over a
concept, the semantics surrounding that concept must be unique and discrete.
If the definition is too broad, there will be too much opportunity for
dissenting opinion. NIST’s definition of cloud computing doesn’t really
answer the mail when it comes to delivering a definition for cloud computing.
In my opinion, it’s nothing more than bucket of attributes that have been
previously associated with cloud computing; and attributes do not constitute
meaning. To define cloud computing concretely, in a way that can be agreed
upon by a majority, we must identify that common abstraction that binds the
definition in a unique way.
One thing the NIST definition does well is aggregate the most common elements
that people associate with cloud computing today. The characteristics,
delivery models and deplo... (more)
We have discussed this before and I'm sure we will talk about it again -
government cutbacks and consolidation of cloud hosting. New York has opened
an enormous new data center in Brooklyn where the city will centralize all
its infrastructure for its agencies of the decade.
It has invested $11 million in equipment for the massive facility and will
pay about $3 million yearly to lease the space but in theory it stands to
recoup more than $100 million over five years. This of course is where we are
currently, the credit crunch is still with us along with the recession and up
until a few years ago data center charges were something that organizations
didn't really keep an eye on... Now savings in infrastructure can be obtained
easily, all government agencies are bearing down on the cloud hosting route.
This of course is exacerbated by the fact that all their budgets hav... (more)
Cloud Expo New York $500 Savings here!
What are the legal implications and consequences of cloud computing in the
healthcare and high-tech sectors? What are the potential legal protections
and solutions from the point of view of providers, suppliers and consumers?
In his session at the 10th International Cloud Expo, Paul Rubell, a Partner
at Meltzer Lippe, will discuss the federal mandates that will encourage
"meaningful use" of EHR technology by 2015, and what those mandates will
require executives to understand about cloud computing and solutions for
implementing cloud computing across large companies, corporations and
not-for-profits in advance of federal mandates.
Explore Cloud Expo Sponsorship & Exhibit Opportunities !
Speaker Bio:
Paul Rubell is a Partner at Meltzer Lippe. He is founding member of Stony
Brook University's Center for Wireless and Internet Techno... (more)
Xeround, the Cloud Database company, today announced that their cloud
database for MySQL applications is now available on Joyent Cloud, the public
cloud designed for real-time, high-performance applications. Joyent Cloud
provides public and private cloud computing software and services to popular
Web applications including LinkedIn, Voxer, Gilt Groupe and TaskRabbit.
When signing up for Xeround, users can now choose to create their cloud
database on Joyent Cloud's data center. Initially, Xeround offers its Xeround
FREE edition on the Joyent Cloud, with additional plans, which would also
include Xeround's industry-first auto-scaling capabilities, scheduled to
launch in the coming months.
Xeround Cloud Database is the only free relational database offered to Joyent
customers, providing zero-management experience and seamless
high-availability for MySQL in the cloud --... (more)
SAN FRANCISCO, March 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today at the RSA Conference,
IBM (NYSE: IBM) detailed new IBM Security Solutions, research initiatives,
partnerships and client results aimed at meeting the rising demand by
businesses and governments worldwide to secure digital and physical
infrastructures.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO )
Critical infrastructures operated by government, energy, health, banking,
transportation and other industries are rapidly transforming into more
intelligent systems. As a result, their failure can have catastrophic
consequences for our society, economy and environment. Recent studies from
the IBM X-Force research and development team indicate that the threat
landscape continues to evolve rapidly and modern day attackers take ever more
sophisticated approaches in their assault on business and govern... (more)
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