Sunday, May 10, 2015

DISA Approves 23 Commercial Cloud Services

Sunday, May 10, 2015  ,  

The Defense Information Systems Agency has approved 23 cloud services to host Department of Defense (DoD) mission data up to Impact Level 2 in a cloud environment.

DoD defines impact levels based on the sensitivity and risk associated with the data, which was used to establish the minimum protection and controls required. There are four impact levels: 2, 4, 5 and 6, with mandated protections increasing with each successive level. Impact Level 6 is for data classified as Secret.

Impact Level 2 is for Non-Controlled Unclassified Information which includes all data cleared for public release, as well as some DoD private unclassified information not designated as CUI or critical mission data, but the information requires some minimal level of access control.

Cloud service offerings that were granted DoD PAs:

  • AINS eCase. Service Model: Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS). FedRAMP Agency ATO by Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
  • Akamai Content Delivery Services.  Service Model: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). FedRAMP JAB PA
  • Amazon Redshift. Service Model: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). FedRAMP Agency ATO by Department of Health and Human Services
  • AT&T Storage as a Service (STaaS).  Service Model: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) . FedRAMP JAB PA
  • Autonomic Resources Cloud Platform (ARC-P). Service Model: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) . FedRAMP JAB PA
  • Clear Government Solutions FedGRID Government Community Cloud. Service Model: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) . FedRAMP JAB PA
  • Concurrent Technologies Corporation Unclassified Remote Hosted Desktops (URHD). Service Model: Software as a Service (SaaS) . FedRAMP JAB PA
  • Economic Systems Federal Human Resources Navigator (FHR Navigator).  Service Model: Software as a Service (SaaS) . FedRAMP JAB PA
  • Edge Hosting CloudPlus – Managed Cloud for Secure Windows and Linux Application Hosting. Service Model: Platform as a Services (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). FedRAMP Agency ATO by Department of Labor
  • IBM SmartCloud for Government. Service Model: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) . FedRAMP JAB PA
  • Lockheed Martin SolaS-I Government Community Cloud. Service Model: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) . FedRAMP JAB PA
  • MicroPact Product Suite. Service Model: Platform as a Service (PaaS). FedRAMP Agency ATO by Department of the Interior
  • Microsoft Office 365 Multi-Tenant & Supporting Services Including Azure Active Directory. Service Model: Software as a Service (SaaS). FedRAMP Agency ATO by Department of Health and Human Services
  • Microsoft Windows Azure Public Cloud Solution. Service Model: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) . FedRAMP JAB PA
  • OMB MAX General Support Services. Service Model: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). FedRAMP Agency ATO by Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
  • OMB MAX.gov Shared Services. Service Model: Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS). FedRAMP Agency ATO by Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
  • Oracle Federal Managed Cloud Services. Service Model: Platform as a Service (PaaS) . FedRAMP JAB PA
  • Oracle Service Cloud. Service Model: SaaS. FedRAMP JAB PA
  • Salesforce Government Cloud. Service Model: Platform as a Service and Software as a Service (SaaS). FedRAMP Agency ATO by Department of Health and Human Services
  • SecureKey Briidge.net ExchangeT for Connect.Gov. Service Model: Software as a Service (SaaS) . FedRAMP JAB PA
  • US Treasury Workplace.gov Community Cloud. Service Model: PaaS, SaaS. FedRAMP Agency ATO by Department of the Treasury
  • USDA National Information Technology Center. Service Model: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).  FedRAMP Agency ATO by United States Department of Agriculture
  • Verizon Enterprise Cloud Federal Edition. Service Model: Infrastructure as a Service. FedRAMP Agency ATO by Department of Health and Human Services

http://www.disa.mil/News/PressResources/2015/Commercial-Cloud-Service
https://www.fedramp.gov/marketplace/compliant-systems

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What's Next for NFV? One Minute Responses from Layer123's NFV World Congress

Sunday, May 10, 2015    

Filmed at Layer 123's NFV World Congress in San Jose, California


Intel's Renu Navale

Ericsson's Anders Olin


Nokia's Jane Rygaard
Cyan's Steve West

F5's Peter Margaris


Tech Mahindra's Manish Singh

Metaswitch's Martin Taylor

Juniper's Wayne Cheung

Napatech's Dan Joe Barry
See video:  https://youtu.be/KQNWTUUsfWE



6Winds's Eric Carmès



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Facebook Achieves Power Efficiency with Cold Storage

Sunday, May 10, 2015  , ,  

Facebook is now operating modified Open Rack designs in its Cold Storage data center facility in Prineville, Oregon, which preserves the billions of photos shared by its users.

The modified Open Rack architecture packs 2 PB storage (using 4 TB drives).  Facebook has achieved one-quarter the power usage of conventional storage servers, according to the company's engineering blog. Because this facility is used for cold storage rather than live streaming, Facebook was able to remove all redundant electrical systems, including all uninterruptible power supplies (DCUPS) and power generators.

In  addition, rather than storing multiple copies of the data in different hardware failure domains, Facebook is now implementing a Reed Solomon Redundancy technique to store fewer than two copies of the same data but still protect against loss should a hardware failure occur.  The technique involves cutting the data up into small pieces and using Reed-Solomon error correction codes to generate additional sets of blocks for file reconstruction.

Facebook's blog posting notes that its two cold storage data facilities are now protecting hundreds of petabytes of data.

https://code.facebook.com/posts/1433093613662262/-under-the-hood-facebook-s-cold-storage-system-/

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Linksys Releases 802.11ac Router with MU-MIMO

Sunday, May 10, 2015  , , , ,  

Linksys introduced its Max-Stream AC2600 MU-MIMO Gigabit Router (EA8500) -- the first MU-MIMO enabled 802.11ac router.  The new Linksys router leverages the 802.11ac Wave 2 MU-MIMO (Multi-User, Multiple-Input, Multiple Output) technology, which helps ensure uninterrupted Wi-Fi connectivity to all the devices in the home.  The company says the experience is as if multiple devices have their own dedicated router.

The Linksys EA8500 router incorporates Qualcomm MU | EFX MU-MIMO technology+, which helps to provide up to 3x faster speeds compared to current Wi-Fi. The combined 2.53 Gbps Wi-Fi speeds (up to 1733 Mbps for 5 GHz and 800 Mbps for 2.4 GHz‡) help minimize buffering and enable faster downloads. It features a 1.4 GHz dual-core CPU and four Gigabit ports. Users can attach devices to the USB 3.0 port and a combo USB 2.0/eSATA port for uninterrupted personal cloud content streaming or to share data across their network. The four removable external antennas are adjustable for maximum coverage, while beamforming technology concentrates the Wi-Fi signal to each device for stronger, better performance and increased mobile speed and range.

“MU-MIMO technology revolutionizes the wireless experience in the home,” said Mike Chen, vice president of product management, Linksys. “The average home has more than 8 devices connecting to the Internet, and they’re not used for just sending emails and tweets. We’re streaming movies and TV shows in high definition, we’re video chatting with our friends and family, and we’re playing video games against competitors around the globe, all on different devices and often at the same time. To have dedicated bandwidth for their devices simultaneously will enhance the users’ experience so they won’t see that buffering icon when streaming a movie or listening to choppy music or worse, playing games with lag. We are so confident in the experience that MU-MIMO provides that we will be expanding our product line in the future to include more MU-MIMO routers.”

http://www.linksys.com

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Ericsson Sues Apple in Germany, UK, the Netherlands

Sunday, May 10, 2015  , ,  

Ericsson has filed new lawsuits against Apple in Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The suits refer to the 2G and 4G/LTE standards, as well as other technology that is not standardized, but is related, such as the design of semiconductor components and non-cellular wireless communications.

Ericsson says it has attempted to reach a licensing agreement with Apple for more than two years to no avail.

http://www.ericsson.com/news/1920053

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Nokia Expands Partnership with Check Point

Sunday, May 10, 2015  , ,  

Nokia Networks is expanding its partnership with Check Point Software Technologies to offer certification and integration with the Nokia Networks telco cloud security solution.

Nokia Networks offers a 3-part solution:

  • Nokia Cloud Security Director, launched at Mobile World Congress 2015, enables operators to automatically deploy security policies and functions in cloud and hybrid networks. This greatly reduces effort and cost compared to manual methods, and mitigates the risk of losing revenue from security breaches. Compliant with forthcoming ETSI NFV security standards, Cloud Security Director allows operators to meet local regulations cost-effectively.
  • Cloud perimeter firewalls and management systems from leading vendors can be integrated with the Nokia Networks telco cloud security solution, with the Check Point firewall being the first to be certified. This approach is part of the Nokia Networks partnering strategy for business growth.
  • Nokia cloud wise services support operators from analysis of cloud strategy, to architectural design and implementation of full telco cloud security. The implementation phase provides secure migration alongside a hardening procedure for the hypervisor and overall telco cloud infrastructure.

"As operators migrate to the telco cloud, a new approach is needed to address the corresponding security threats. Our strategy is to provide operators with the industry’s most secure solutions. To achieve that, we combine our mobile network and security portfolio and know-how with the expertise of the leading security vendors.”

http://www.nokia.com

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