Cloud Musings by Kevin L. Jackson

FedRAMP PMO Releases First Set of 3PAOs

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Mon, 14 May 2012 21:41:00 +0000

Late today the FedRAMP Program Management Office released the first list of certified Third Party Assessment Organizations (3PAOs). These companies are accredited to perform initial and periodic assessment of cloud service provider (CSP) systems per FedRAMP requirements, provide evidence of compliance, and play an on-going role in ensuring CSPs meet requirements. FedRAMP provisional authorizations must include an assessment by an accredited 3PAO to ensure a consistent assessment process. he initial set of 3PAOs announced today are (see http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/131991):

Organization	POC Name	POC Email
COACT, Inc.	Brian Pleffner	bpleffner@coact.com
Department of Transportation (DOT) Enterprise Service Center (ESC)	Douglas Holland	doug.holland@faa.gov
Dynamics Research Corporation (DRC)	Preston Gale	pgale@drc.com
J.D. Biggs and Associates, Inc.	James Biggs	james@jdbiggs.com
Knowledge Consulting Group, Inc.	Sherrie Nutzman	sherrie.nutzman@knowledgecg.com
Logyx LLC	Robert Dumais	rdumais@logyx.com
Lunarline, Inc.	Waylon Krush	waylon.krush@lunarline.com
SRA International, Inc.	William Bell	will_bell@sra.com
Veris Group, LLC	Douglas Greise	dgreise@verisgroup.com

In becoming a 3PAO, these companies successfully completed a NIST coordinated conformity assessment process. This conformity assessment process qualifies 3PAOs according to two requirements:

Independence and quality management in accordance with ISO standards
Technical competence through FISMA knowledge testing

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FedRAMP Releases Updated Security Assessment Plan Templates

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Tue, 08 May 2012 03:34:00 +0000

Last week the GSA FedRAMP Program Office released the latest version of the cloud computing Security Assessment Plan (SAR) template. This document is the most recent step toward the Federal governments goal of establishing FedRAMP initial operating Capability by June 2012.

The Federal Risk Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) is a government-wide program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for Cloud Service Providers (CSP). Testing security controls is an integral part of the FedRAMP security authorization requirements and enables Federal Agencies to use the findings that result from the tests to make risk-based decisions. Providing a plan for security control ensures that the process runs smoothly. This document has been designed for CSP Third-Party Independent Assessors (3PAOs) to use for planning security testing of CSPs. Once filled out, this document constitutes a plan for testing. Actual findings from the tests are to be recorded in FedRAMP security test procedure workbooks and a Security Assessment Report (SAR).

This release also includes templates for:

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NJVC® and Gravitant® Announce New Strategic Alliance: Partnership to Benefit Federal Agencies with Powerful Provision and Management of Cloud Services that Unify Multiple Providers

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:15:00 +0000

Vienna, Va., April 4, 2012 — NJVC®, one of the largest information technology solutions providers supporting the U.S. Department of Defense, and Gravitant®, a provider of cloud brokerage and management solutions for IT enterprises, announce a new strategic alliance. Under the terms of the partnership, the two companies will launch a cobranded cloud portal later this spring designed specifically to support the federal government’s planning, provisioning and management of cloud services across multiple providers.

“The consulting and business development expertise of NJVC and the software product line of Gravitant have great synergy,” said Kevin Jackson, NJVC vice president and general manager, cloud services. “NJVC government customers will now have one centralized place for all their cloud needs, and can rest assured that the underlying tools of the soon-to-be-announced portal will constantly optimize the cloud in their favor.”
The cobranded cloud portal will provide government customers access to existing Gravitant infrastructure-as-a service products (e.g., cloudScreen™ and cloudMatrix™). Under the terms of the agreement, NJVC will be the official supplier of the portal to federal customers, and will offer product-related consulting services, and its proven expertise and thought leadership in government cloud adoption and management for these highly secure and demanding IT environments.
“The cloud portal in essence will offer command and control for federal IT customers,” said Dr. Ilyas Iyoob, Gravitant director, advanced analytics. “Now CIOs and CTOs will be able to monitor the entire IT infrastructure on a ‘single pane of glass’ and leverage the power of predictive analytics to identify and resolve potential bottlenecks ahead of time. This will increase the agility of NJVC federal customers in meeting their mission requirements, and greatly minimize their operational and financial risks.”

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About NJVC®

With a focus on information technology automation, NJVC specializes in supporting highly secure, complex IT enterprises in mission-critical environments, particularly for the intelligence and defense communities. We offer a wide breadth of IT and strategic solutions to our customers, ranging from strategic consulting to managed flexible services in five business areas: Cloud Services, Cyber Security, Data Center Services, IT Services and Print Solutions. Our global workforce includes dedicated and talented employees with 94 percent holding security clearances located at more than 160 customer sites. We partner with our customers to support their missions. To learn more, visit http://www.njvc.com/.
About Gravitant®

Gravitant, Inc. is a leader in the cloud brokerage and management space. We provide enterprises with the capability to discover and source the right cloud computing services and to provision across cloud providers, whileintelligently controlling IT resource capacity, cost and performance. Gravitant has a world-class team of industry professionals with a combined 50 years of experience and more than 20 commercial enterprise software patents. We have developed partnerships with leading cloud providers, and our services are currently in use at many large state agencies across the continental United States. To learn more, visit www.gravitant.com.

Contact

Michelle Snyder, NJVC, 703.893.7609, michelle.snyder@njvc.com
Audra Capas, 5StarPR, 703.437.9301, audra@5starpr.com
Sowmya Rao, Gravitant, 512.535.7399, sowmya.rao@gravitant.com

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NJVC® VP and GM, Cloud Services, Kevin L. Jackson to Speak on Cloud Security at 2012 Emerging Threats and Cyber Defense Symposium

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 18:03:00 +0000

Vienna, Va., March 15, 2012 — NJVC®, one of the largest information technology solutions (IT) providers supporting the U.S. Department of Defense, is pleased to announce that Kevin L. Jackson, vice president (VP) and general manager (GM), cloud services, will speak at the 2012 Emerging Threats and Cyber Defense Symposium, March 20 -21 at Georgia Tech Research Institute in Atlanta. The conference is hosted by the Defense Industry Cyber Threat Working Group and Federal Bureau of Investigations, Atlanta Division.

Jackson’s presentation will center on the issues surrounding the security of cloud computing in the highly secure IT environments of the intelligence community. He will dispel myths about the lack of security in the cloud, and discuss how the adoption of the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program by the federal government will ensure a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services. Jackson will also outline the implications of FedRAMP for IC agencies and federal systems integrators that serve them.

Title: “Cloud Computing and Security”

Presenter: Kevin L. Jackson, VP and GM, cloud services, NJVC

Date: March 21

Time: 9 – 10:30 a.m.

Location: Georgia Tech Research Institute, Conference Center, 250 14th St., NW, Atlanta, GA

Presenentations will include:

User Education as a Network Defense Element - Cheryl Conley- Cyber Security Education and Awareness Senior Manager, Lockheed Martin
Open Source Intel Collection and Social Network Threats - Daniel Clemens- CEO, PacketNinjas LLC
Targeted Cyber-Espionage Operations Against Western Economic and National Security Resources- Dmitri Alperovitch - President, Asymmetric Cyber Operations LLC
APT and Robust Network Defense - Chris Bream- Manager, Mandiant
Cloud Computing and Security - Kevin Jackson- Vice President & General Manager for Cloud Services, NJVC LLC
Active Defense - Dr Ronald Ross- Fellow, National Institute for Science and Technology (NIST)
Counterfeit Parts - Art Ogg- Art Ogg Quality Consulting
Organized Criminal Hacking - Scott Warren- Special Agent, FBI Atlanta Cyber
Network Defense and Intrusion Response - Dr. Ron Ross, NIST , Paul Huesken, Director of Global Information Assurance, The Coca Cola Company , Randy Coleburn, CISO, SRC , Carl Holton, Information System Security Manager, Lockheed Martin , SSA David West, FBI AT Cyber Supervisor

Attendees from throughout the southeast, specializing in IT, IT security, the defense industry, finance and banking, and energy are expected to attend, as well as representatives from national and international corporations.

###

About NJVC

With a focus on information technology automation, NJVC specializes in supporting highly secure, complex IT enterprises in mission-critical environments, particularly for the intelligence and defense communities. We offer a wide breadth of IT and strategic solutions to our customers, ranging from strategic consulting to managed flexible services in five business areas: Cloud Services, Cyber Security, Data Center Services, IT Services and Print Solutions. Our global workforce includes dedicated and talented employees with 94 percent holding security clearances located at more than 170 customer sites. We partner with our customers to support their missions. To learn more, visit www.njvc.com.

Contact

Michelle Snyder
NJVC7
03.893.7609
michelle.snyder@njvc.com

Audra Capas
5StarPR
703.437.9301
audra@5starpr.com

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NJVC’s Kevin L. Jackson Co-Authors INSA White Paper on Cloud Computing for the Intelligence Community

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 20:07:00 +0000

Findings Reflect Insight from More than 50 Cloud Thought Leaders

VIENNA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NJVC^®, one of the largest information technology solutions (IT) providers supporting the U.S. Department of Defense, announces that a white paper addressing the risks and benefits of cloud computing for the intelligence community (IC)—co-authored by Kevin L. Jackson, NJVC vice president and general manager, cloud services—was released today. The Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) released the white paper in conjunction with Government Executive magazine at a cloud computing panel discussion at the National Press Club in Washington.

“The government-industry collaboration demonstrated by this study serves as an important model for us all. I thank everyone involved for their individual contributions in support of the whole.”

The white paper, “Cloud Computing: Risks, Benefits and Mission Enhancement for the Intelligence Community,” was developed by Jackson and other members of INSA’s Cloud Computing Task Force: Bob Gourley, task force chairman, Crucial Point, LLC founder and chief technology officer; Maureen McGovern, KSB Solutions president; and John Totah, task force team leader and Oracle National Security Group technical director.
Based on information collected from more than 50 interviews with cloud thought leaders and policy makers in the public and private sectors, the white paper found:

IC decision-makers are focused on the business model implications of cloud computing, which represents a new approach in the provisioning and consumption of IT.
For the IC, the decision to move to the cloud must be focused on “mission enablement” on a case-by-case basis. Cost savings must also consider the entire IT lifecycle, not periodic budget cycles.
Information security must be baked into the cloud computing architecture from the very beginning.
The type of cloud model adopted by an IC agency is directly related to the sensitivity of its data.
IC agencies looking to migrate to the cloud must also consider “impacts on organizational culture.”
Adoption of cloud computing may improve the way IC agencies procure IT services, software and hardware.
“Thoughtful federal input” about emerging cloud computing standards (e.g., FedRAMP) can contribute to the cloud’s security and cost efficiencies. An IC-based cloud architecture also must be able to support multiple standards.
Sharing lessons learned from the IT industry, private sector and academia is essential to reducing cloud computing risk in the IC.

“NJVC is proud to be a member of the INSA Cloud Computing Task Force and to have contributed to the organization’s new white paper on cloud computing for the IC,” Jackson said. “This study provides important contributions to both IC mission requirements and the Director of National Intelligence’s fiscal goals.”
“The expertise of Kevin Jackson and NJVC in the IC market was hugely beneficial to the INSA white paper development team,” Gourley said. “The government-industry collaboration demonstrated by this study serves as an important model for us all. I thank everyone involved for their individual contributions in support of the whole.”

The whitepaper is available for download at http://www.slideshare.net/kvjacksn/insa-cloud-computing2012final

About NJVC^®
With a focus on information technology automation, NJVC^® specializes in supporting highly secure, complex IT enterprises in mission-critical environments, particularly for the intelligence and defense communities. We offer a wide breadth of IT and strategic solutions to our customers, ranging from strategic consulting to managed flexible services in five business areas: Cloud Services, Cyber Security, Data Center Services, IT Services and Print Solutions. Our global workforce includes dedicated and talented employees with 94 percent holding security clearances located at more than 170 customer sites. We partner with our customers to support their missions. To learn more, visit www.njvc.com.

About INSA
The Intelligence and National Security Alliance is the premier intelligence and national security organization that brings together the public, private and academic sectors to collaborate on the most challenging policy issues and solutions. As a non-profit, non-partisan, public-private organization, INSA’s ultimate goal is to promote and recognize the highest standards within the national security and intelligence communities. INSA has more than 160 corporate members and several hundred individual members who are leaders and senior executives throughout government, the private sector and academia. To learn more about INSA visit www.insaonline.org.

Contacts

NJVC
Michelle Snyder, 703-893-7609
michelle.snyder@njvc.com
or
5StarPR
Audra Capas, 703-437-9301
audra@5starpr.com

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INSA Study on Cloud Computing in the Intelligence Community: Rollout 13 March 2012 | SYS-CON MEDIA

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 21:53:00 +0000

(Originally posted by Bob Gourley at CTOvision)

Over the last year I’ve had the pleasure of serving with a team of volunteers from the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) as we dove deep into topics associated with Cloud Computing and the Intelligence Community. National security technologists have long been thought leaders when it comes to adopting advanced technology to serve important missions and have long been leveraging the emerging benefits of cloud computing and mission focused applications like Big Data. Our study sought to learn lessons from these pioneers in the IC and we also sought to provide useful information to the government from our interactions with industry. Frankly this last piece was quite a challenge, since the technologists working this issue in government are very well plugged-in to the developments in industry in this cloud computing space. However, in the end, we believe we produce something that will help further the dialog on this interesting topic.
The paper was a collaboration, but a team of key leaders and subject matter experts rose to the top and are deserving of special note. One is Kevin Jackson, a highly regarded cloud computing thought leader, author, and industry executive with extensive experience in delivering world class solutions. Having the benefits of Kevin’s deep background in this topic gave us a firm footing in reality and ensured our conclusions were as relevant as possible. John Totah, a renowned technologist who has a proven capacity to understand any enterprise technology, led a team of professionals who interviewed industry thought leaders from around the country, ensuring our study was founded in what is now and what is known to be coming from the tech sector in this cloud computing domain. Maureen McGovern, a highly respected leader and enterprise strategist, led teams of interviewers who interfaced directly with the most senior leaders in the IC. Together with a large cadre of other INSA volunteers, the team produced a short document which offers food for thought we believe will be of use in and out of the Intelligence Community.

Read more at:

INSA Study on Cloud Computing in the Intelligence Community: Rollout 13 March 2012 | SYS-CON MEDIA

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International Public Sector Cloud Computing Summit in DC

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 03:48:00 +0000

Next week at the Hyatt Regency in reston, Virginia, the Cloud Standards Customer Council will be holding it's Public Sector Cloud Summit. This two day cloud event will feature international public sector Cloud leaders to exchange information about current projects, future plans, and prioritized requirements. Standards Development Groups, and Cloud Providers will be present to discuss progress related to the prioritized requirements. Attendees will explore possible frameworks for ongoing discussion and coordination across international public sector Cloud initiatives, SDOs, and Cloud Providers.

This summit will emphasis standardizations .needed in technology, best practices, organizations, and policies for interoperability, portability, and trust of Clouds across national and regional boundaries. A key topic will be Priority Action Plans for international security, portability and interoperability standards as called for in NIST's Cloud Technology Roadmap

Highlights will include:

NIST Keynote - NIST US Government Technology Roadmap Progress and Next Steps Dawn Leaf, Senior Executive for Cloud Computing,
GSA Keynote - David McClure Associate Administrator of the Office of Citizen Services and Communications will present an update on GSA Cloud activities
EC plan for the year 2012 in the area of Cloud Computing , Jean-François Junger, European Commission, Head of Sector, DG Information Society and Media will present "EC plan for the year 2012 in the area of Cloud Computing", as announced by Vice President, Neelie Kroes in Davos.
Europe (VISION Cloud Project) Massimo Villari - Prof. At University of Messina, Italy "Storage Cloud Challenges: VISION Cloud EU Project"
India - Renu Budhiraja (+ M.R. Rajagopalan), Sr. Director, and Head of Division, State Data Center, e-Governance Group,Department of IT, GOI. + Director C-DAC, The Chennai Unit of the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC))
UK - Andy Tait - Former Deputy Director for the G-Cloud, UK Cabinet Office
Korea - Jeongwon Yoon - Executive Director National Information Society Agency
Standards Tracking Groups Perspective - TechAmerica State and Local Government Cloud Commission Daniel Kent, Co-Chair of Commission and Cisco CTO for US Federal Solutions "Best Practices and Policies Recommendations"
Asia Cloud Computing Association - Mark Ross, Co-Founder and Executive Director "Cloud Computing in Asia"
Cloud Best Practices Network - Neil McEvoy, Founder "Hybrid SaaS - Platform for Software as a Service in the public sector"
Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium (NCOIC), Kevin Jackson Chairman, NCOIC Cloud Computing Working Group "Using Cloud for Geospatial Interoperability"
Cloud SDO Status and Plans Related to Public Sector Requirements OASIS - Jamie Clark (+ Paul Lipton) General Counsel (+ TOSCA Lead)
Amazon, Mark Ryland, Chief Solutions Architect, Global Public Sector, AWS "Cloud Computing Requirements in the Public Sector"
Google, David Mihalchik, Strategy & Business Development Lead, Google Federal Enterprise
Matthew Goodrich (GSA) and Allison Stanton (DOJ) "Creating Effective Cloud Computing Contracts for the Federal Government"

Full agenda and registration is available at http://cloud-council.org/March2012/agenda.htm .

SEE YOU THERE !!!

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Jill T. Singer, NRO CIO, Named One of 10 Top Women in Cloud Computing !!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:22:00 +0000

CONGRATULATIONS to National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) CIO Jill T. Singer for being selected as one of the 10 winners of the first annual CloudNOW awards presented at the Cloud Connect Conference in Sata Clara, California earlier this week.

From the NRO Press Release:

"Considered one of the top women leaders in Federal IT, Ms. Singer was recognized for her innovative and inspirational leadership in the area of Cloud Computing. She is known not only for her presentations and writings on technologies and business changes needed for technological success, but her ability to mentor and grow the next generation of IT leaders to deliver long-term, sustained success."

Over the years I have personally admired Ms. Singer for her GovCloud leadership. This admiration comes from having the pleasure to work directly with her on "the QUAD" and the subsequent Intelligence Community Common Operating Environment (IC COE). Her ability to understand and communicate the complexities and value of cloud computing have been crucial to the Intelligence Communities adoption of this exciting operational and economic model.

Ms. Singer said upon receiving the award,“I am deeply honored to be recognized by CloudNOW with this leadership award. Having been in the IT field for many years, I believe the cloud computing chapter in the industry is an exciting one and I am proud to be a part of it.”

The other CloudNOW Top Women in Cloud Awardees were::

•Padmasree Warrior, CTO, Cisco

•Lauren States, CTO of Cloud Computing, IBM

•Vanessa Alvarez, Analyst, Infrastructure and Operations, Forrester Research

•Jamie Dos Santos, President of Terremark, a Verizon company

•Becky Swain, Founder of the Cloud Security Alliance

•Lori MacVittie, Senior Technical Analyst, F5 Networks

•Ellen Rubin, Founder of CloudSwitch, Terremark, a Verizon company

•Dawn Leaf, Senior Executive for Cloud Computing, NIST

•Jamie Erbes, Cloud Labs Director, HP Fellow, HP

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NJVC® and Virtual Global Announce Release of PaaS White Paper: Paper Clarifies the Confusion Surrounding PaaS for Federal IT Buyers—Why It Is Important and How It Can Cut Development Costs by 50 Percent

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:51:00 +0000

VIENNA, Va., Jan. 23, 2012 —NJVC^®, one of the largest information technology solutions providers supporting the U.S. Department of Defense, and Virtual Global, a premier provider of software and cloud computing platform solutions for a variety of industry and federal customers, announce the release of a joint white paper, “Platform as a Service (Paas): What Is It? Why Is It So Important?.”

The paper clarifies the confusion surrounding PaaS for IT decision makers in the federal government. The National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) suggests PaaS as a component of the Federal Cloud Computing Reference Architecture, but one major challenge exists: Most buyers do not understand what PaaS is, why it is important and how it can help federal agencies cut development costs by more than 50 percent.

“Federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel said that platform as a service is the next major value set for federal cloud computing, and it also aligns closely with his Shared Services initiative to knock down stovepipe software and save money,” said Kevin Jackson, co-author and general manager, NJVC cloud services. “I hope that this whitepaper will help raise awareness of its importance in the federal marketplace.”
Many PaaS vendors require their customers to make long-term commitments to proprietary infrastructures. Some early adopters of PaaS unknowingly have already made casual, long-term commitments to infrastructure providers. “It's somewhat like buying gum at the counter, but needing to rent the store for 10 years,” said Cary Landis, co-author and Virtual Global senior platform architect and founder. “That is why NIST is stressing the importance of openness and portability. IT buyers must understand PaaS to make the right decisions early.”

PaaS makes it possible for software developers to participate in the cloud. Until recently, the cloud has been dominated by big email and infrastructure providers selling commodity services. “PaaS changes the landscape—it opens the playing field to hundreds of thousands of software developers and integrators, giving them a way to actively participate,” according to Jackson. “Whereas the first wave of cloud computing was about consolidating data centers, the PaaS wave is about consolidating applications. It will be a more complex ride, but the savings will be greater,” Landis said.

Download the white paper at no cost at http://www.slideshare.net/kvjacksn/njvcvirtual-global-paas-white-paper. NJVC and Virtual Global are team members on the GovCloud™ initiative.

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About NJVC

With a focus on information technology automation, NJVC specializes in supporting highly secure, complex IT enterprises in mission-critical environments, particularly for the intelligence and defense communities. We offer a wide breadth of IT and strategic solutions to our customers, ranging from strategic consulting to managed flexible services in five business areas: Cloud Services, Cyber Security, Data Center Services, IT Services and Print Solutions. Our global workforce includes dedicated and talented employees with 94 percent holding security clearances located at more than 170 customer sites. We partner with our customers to support their missions. To learn more, visit www.njvc.com.

About Virtual Global

Virtual Global is a premier provider of software and cloud computing platform solutions for a variety of industry and federal clients. The SaaS Maker™ family of platform products is open and modular, so that you can integrate with existing open source, legacy and 3rd-party web services. It is also portable across data centers. http://www.virtualglobal.com

Contact

Michelle Snyder, NJVC, 703.893.7609, michelle.snyder@njvc.com
Audra Capas, 5StarPR, 703.437.9301, audra@5starpr.com

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December 2011: GovCloud Moves From Policy to Law

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:32:00 +0000

Over the past years, government cloud computing has steadily moved forward from it's early beginnings as an interesting curiosity:

December 23, 2008 - Now really. Should the Obama administration use cloud computing?

Since Sunday's broadcast, I've been asked numerous times about my real answer to the question "Will 'Cloud Computing' Work In White House". Although I would never assume to be in a position to advise the President-elect, I'm more than happy, however, to add my voice to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the distinguished list of contributors that recently released the CSIS Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency.

I truly believe that cloud computing technology can 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 (FDCC) and acquisition reform, and the ability to require agencies to submit budget proposals relating to cyberspace to receive its approval prior to submission to OMB."

December 23, 2009 - 2009: The Government Discovers Cloud Computing

2009 was truly a watershed year for Federal information technology professionals. After inaugurating the first Cyber-President we saw the appointment of our first Federal CIO and the rapid adoption of cloud computing as the way forward for improved efficiencies at reduced cost. The theme continued throughout the year with the Federal Cloud Computing Initiative, the Open Government Directive and finally, as if to put an exclamation point on the rising importance of IT to national security the appointment of the nation's first Cybersecurity Coordinator.

Government cloud computing is a reality and as Peter Mell of NIST succinctly put it, "2010 will be the year of the cloud computing pilot." I look forward to continuing this exciting conversation with you all!

December 30, 2010 - GovCloud Predicitons for 2011

2011 will be the breakout year for GovCloud! Pressure to reduce budget, pressure to manage I resources better and the political pressure of the next presidential election will combine to accelerate adoption. The GSA IaaS groundwork has been laid and new policies are just about ready to be released !!

December 2011: And what did Santa bring this year!!

"MEMORANDUM FOR CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICERS FROM: Steven VanRoekel Federal Chief Information Officer

Each Executive department or agency shall:

i. Use FedRAMP when conducting risk assessments, security authorizations, and granting ATOs for all Executive department or agency use of cloud services;

ii. Use the FedRAMP PMO process and the JAB-approved FedRAMP security authorization requirements as a baseline when initiating, reviewing, granting and revoking security authorizations for cloud services;

iii. Ensure applicable contracts appropriately require CSPs to comply with FedRAMP
security authorization requirements;

2012 Defense Authorization Act

"PERFORMANCE PLAN FOR REDUCTION OF RESOURCES
REQUIRED FOR DATA SERVERS AND CENTERS.— ...

(2) DEFENSE-WIDE PLAN.—

(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than April 1, 2012, the Chief Information Officer of the Department shall submit to the congressional defense committees a performance plan for a reduction in the resources required for data centers and information systems technologies Department-wide. The plan shall be based upon and incorporate appropriate elements of the plans submitted under paragraph (1).

(B) ELEMENTS.—The performance plan required under this paragraph shall include the following:

(ii) A Department-wide strategy for each of the following: ....

(II) Transitioning to cloud computing.

(III) Migration of Defense data and government-provided services from Department-owned and operated data centers to cloud computing services generally available within the private sector that provide a better capability at a lower cost with the same or greater degree of security.

(IV) Utilization of private sector-managed security services for data centers and cloud computing services."

Yes, Virginia, there is a GovCloud!!

Happy Holidays to All !!!

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CloudMASTER & CloudGURU Certification Comes To Washington, DC

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 21:31:00 +0000

The National Cloud Technologist Association is bringing the CloudMASTER & CloudGURU certification classes to the Washington Metropolitan Area in 2012. First introduced in November at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in Newark, this continuing education program provides a solid technical background in modern web services deployment and administration. Students will learn concepts, principles, techniques, and practices needed to administer and secure a modern cloud-enabled business environment.

CloudMASTER is comprised of three levels. The foundation program includes all the basics required for understanding Cloud computing services and operational management. Each of the three training modules can be completed as a stand-alone course and representing its own credential, as follows:

1.) Cloud Technologies - Module One
2.) Cloud Architecture & Design - Module Two
3.) Cloud Operations Management - Module Three

Hands-on computer lab work is a mandatory part of each program. Each course also involves a mandatory online examination. Students who pass each examination are awarded a Certificate for Completion of that module, as well as admission to the next module. Those candidates who successfully complete all three courses are awarded the designation of CloudMASTER, and a crystal award with your name inscribed.

A CloudGURU Certification Program is designed to provide experienced IT professionals with the skills, knowledge and designation to be considered for employment within areas that include Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). Holders of this certification are change agents within institutions and corporations that begin transitions from traditional infrastructure and legacy applications to innovative cloud models.

This advanced training module also involves 32 hours of classroom training, with hands-on computer lab work and a mandatory online examination. Students who pass the examination are awarded the designation of CloudGURU. Successful candidiates will also be listed in the National Cloud Guru Database, and have their own public page on the NCTA website. CloudGURU curriculum includes:

• Green field assessment of the enterprise’s current IT landscape.
• Strategy framework for cloud migration.
• Analysis of bottlenecks, pain points, and performance issues.
• Analysis of user needs and geographical distribution.
• Impact on all elements of the firm’s value chain.
• Strategy of migrating applications and data from legacy to the cloud.
• Calculating total cost of migration.
• Cloud service vendor-deliverables management.
• Cost optimization strategies

The Washington Area Open House will be held on Saturday, January,14, 2012 from 10:00am -12:00 noon. Registration is available online at http://www.thencta.com/mewaopho.html

Seating is limited for the Open House. Travel, parking and public transportation information will be sent upon registration. Refreshments will be served. For more information call (800) 401.7351 (Toll Free)

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GovCloud.com !! The New Hub for Government Cloud Computing

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 03:49:00 +0000

It gives me great pleasure to announce the relaunch of GovCloud.com! GovCloud is the “go to” place for everything related to federal cloud computing. Our mission is to help federal organizations learn about, try and securely adopt cloud computing technologies. In full alignment with The Federal Cloud Computing Strategy, the Federal CIO’s 25-Point Federal IT Reform Plan and NIST’s Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap, this site will provide a community hub for information dissemination and GovCloud best practices. A great deal of personal thanks goes out to the GovCloud.com member companies (in alphabetical order):

Site highlights include:

GovCloud reference library
Training and education information from the National Cloud Technologist Association and Cloud Best Practices Network
Cloud assessment tools from Gravitant
SaaSmaker Platform-as-a-Service
Member company blogs and whitepapers
GovCloud World News
GSA IaaS and SaaS information
Community member company books and

As always, your comments, recommendations and suggestions are welcomed.. Your active participation is also invited. Just let me know how you would like to contribute.

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )

Backupify Names Top 10 Cloud Computing Experts to Follow on Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 03:15:00 +0000

THANK YOU BACKUPIFY!!!!

Thank you for the honor of being on your Top 10 List! Backupify is the leading backup provider for cloud based data, offering an all-in-one archiving, search and restore service for the most popular online services including Google Apps, Facebook, Twitter and more. With one account you get centralized access to all of your information, stored securely, easily searchable, and ready for restoration or transfer at a moment's notice.

Other honorees include:

. 1. Adria Richards

2. Susan Cline

3. Steven Peltzman

4. Ben Kepes

5. David Linthicum

6. Krishnan Subramanian

7. Matt Rosoff

8. Loraine Lawson

9. Om Malik

10. Kevin L. Jackson bringing up the rear.

Visit the Backupify Blog to read more about these outstanding Twitter leaders !!

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )

NJVC® Cloud Computing Expert Kevin Jackson to Speak at NIST Cloud Computing Forum & Workshop IV on Nov. 3 in Gaithersburg, Md.

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 17:45:00 +0000

VIENNA, Va., Oct. 28, 2011 — NJVC^®, one of the largest information technology solutions providers supporting the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) , is pleased to announce that Kevin Jackson, general manager, cloud services, will participate in the “Security Assumption Buster Panel” during the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cloud Computing Forum & Workshop IV on Nov. 3 in Gaithersburg, Md.

Security Assumption Buster Panel

Date: Nov. 3, 2011

Time: 11:40 a.m. – 12:40 p.m.

Location: NIST, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, Md.

Presenters:

Curt Barker, panel chair and chief cybersecurity advisor, NIST
Kevin Jackson, general manager, cloud services, NJVC
Bill Newhouse, scientific advisor, cybersecurity, research & development computer security division, NIST

This expert panel will address common fallacies and misconceptions about cloud computing security and also discuss the NIST approach to risk management as the federal government continues to transition IT operations to the cloud.

Between 500 and 700 participants are expected to participate in the Cloud Computing Forum & Workshop IV, which will take place on Nov. 2 – 4. This workshop will provide information on the U.S. Government Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap initiative and provide an update on NIST efforts to help develop open standards in cloud interoperability, portability and security.

###

About NJVC

NJVC is one of the largest information technology solutions providers supporting the U.S. Department of Defense. We provide innovative and high-quality IT solutions to the government and commercial organizations, and specialize in supporting highly secure IT enterprises, particularly for the intelligence and defense communities. To learn more, visit www.njvc.cm.

Contact

Michelle Snyder
703.893.7609
michelle.snyder@njvc.com

Dara Dirth
571.405.2741
dara.dirth@njvc.com

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )

NJVC® General Manager, Cloud Services, Kevin Jackson to Moderate “Cloud Computing and the Intelligence Mission” Panel at GEOINT 2011 Symposium

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 02:22:00 +0000

Vienna, Va., Oct. 13, 2011 — NJVC® , one of the largest information technology (IT) solutions providers supporting the U.S. Department of Defense, is pleased to announce that Kevin Jackson, General Manager, cloud services, will serve as the moderator for the GEOINT 2011 Symposium panel, “Cloud Computing and the Intelligence Mission,” on October 19 in San Antonio.

Event: “Cloud Computing and the Intelligence Mission” panel
Date: Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011
Time: 2 – 4 p.m. (central)
Location: Room 103, Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio

Panelists:

Don Cotter, CTO, Department of Homeland Security
Bob Gouley, Editor, CTOvision.com
Dr. Robert C. Norris, Director, Enterprise Architecture and Atandards, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
Michele Weslander Quaid, Chief Technology Officer and Innovation Evangelist, Google Federal

Description:

Cloud computing, a new approach in the provisioning and consumption of IT, has been described as a means to cut federal IT budgets. This panel of esteemed intelligence community technologists will discuss the implementation of cloud solutions (private, public, community and hybrid) from public and private providers specific to intelligence community customers.

Jackson heads the new NJVC cloud services business unit, and joined the company in 2010. A prolific blogger and first-time book author on cloud computing, he was recently named one of the “Most Powerful Voices in Security” by SYS-CON MEDIA.

Visit the NJVC booth (#601) in the GEOINT 2011 Exhibit Hall, Oct. 16 – 19, 2011.

###

About NJVC

Contact

Michelle Snyder
703.893.7609
michelle.snyder@njvc.com

Dara Dirth
571.405.2741
dara.dirth@njvc.com

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )

NJVC® Spotlights Cyber Security and Automated IT at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo® 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 03:03:00 +0000

VIENNA, Va., Oct. 4, 2011 — NJVC^®, one of the largest information technology solutions providers supporting the Department of Defense, announces its lineup for the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo^®, Oct. 16 - 20 at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel in Orlando, Fla.
Visit the NJVC booth (#206) on the tradeshow floor to meet with company representatives and earn about NJVC’s extensive and proven portfolio of IT solutions for government and commercial customers. NJVC will provide the following live demonstrations for attendees:

Cyber Dashboard – Take a tour and learn how NJVC customers have benefited from this inexpensive yet highly effective cyber tool that provides customizable, real-time situational awareness visualization across an entire IT enterprise.
Streamlined NJVC Automation Products, Services and Solutions™ – SNAPSS™ is a suite of cost-effective solutions that automate and streamline IT enterprise services for customers no matter the location of their users.
- Persistent Desktop Instance™ – Discover NJVC’s new service—PDI™— a virtual desktop available from “thick” customers (desktops or laptops), thin/zero client devices and mobile devices. PDI provides users access to a single workstation containing their documents and installed software, regardless of the viewing client or location. PDI provides a “disconnect and resume” capability giving users agility of “computing on the go.”
- Provisioned Self Services™ – Learn about PSS™—an innovative, virtual storefront for an enterprise’s software library. PSS users can easily search out the software needed for a task and request it to be installed on their workstations. PSS puts the power in the hands of users to virtually request and receive the software applications necessary to do their jobs, while maintaining central configuration control of the enterprise.
- Agile Dashboard™ – Gain knowledge how the Agile Dashboard enables the visualization of core devices across an organization’s entire IT enterprise. This cost-effective tool allows real-time visualization to quickly resolve any issues without major impact to users and the enterprise.
- Self Help™ – Learn about the NJVC Self Help solution under SNAPPS: a live chat, problem resolution tool. Users can communicate with help desk personnel in real time, using screen sharing, video and/or audio.
More than 8,500 senior business and IT strategists, including more than 2,000 chief information officers, are expected to attend the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo.

( SNAPSS™, Persistent Desktop Instance™, Provisioned Self Services™, Agile Dashboard™ and Self Help™ services are available to support private cloud platforms or on the Federal Community Cloud through the GSA Infrastructure-as-a-Service blanket purchase agreement )

###

About NJVC
NJVC is one of the largest information technology solutions providers supporting the U.S. Department of Defense. We provide innovative and high-quality IT solutions to the government and commercial organizations, and specialize in supporting highly secure IT enterprises, particularly for the intelligence and defense communities. To learn more, visit www.njvc.com.

About Gartner Symposium/ITxpo
Gartner Symposium/ITxpo is the IT industry's largest and most strategic conference, providing business leaders with a look at the future of IT. For more than 10,000 IT professionals from the world's leading enterprises, Gartner's annual Symposium/ITxpo events are key components of their annual planning efforts. Attendees rely on Gartner Symposium/ITxpo to gain insight into how their organizations can use technology to address business challenges and improve operational efficiency. For more information, please visit http://www.gartner.com/technology/symposium/orlando/index.jsp.

Contact
Michelle Snyder
703.893.7609
michelle.snyder@njvc.com

Dara Dirth
571.405.2741
dara.dirth@njvc.com

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )

NJVC® to Demonstrate Enterprise Automation at GEOINT 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 15:36:00 +0000

VIENNA, Va., Oct. 6, 2011 — NJVC®, one of the largest information technology solutions (IT) providers supporting the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), is pleased to offer live, compelling demonstrations on the company’s Streamlined NJVC Automation Products, Services and Solutions™ (SNAPSS™) at GEOINT 2011 Symposium—the largest intelligence event in the United States—on Oct. 16 – 19 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio.

Visit the NJVC booth (#601) on the expo floor to meet company experts and learn about NJVC’s extensive and proven portfolio of IT services, particularly geared for DoD and intelligence customers. Experience the following thought-provoking demonstrations:

SNAPSS™ – SNAPSS™ is a suite of cost-effective solutions that automate and streamline IT enterprise services for customers no matter the location of their users.
Persistent Desktop Instance™ – Discover NJVC’s new service—PDI™— a virtual desktop available from “thick” customers (desktops or laptops), thin/zero client devices and mobile devices. PDI provides users access to a single workstation containing their documents and installed software, regardless of the viewing client or location. PDI provides a “disconnect and resume” capability giving users agility of “computing on the go.”
Provisioned Self Services™ – Learn about PSS™—an innovative, virtual storefront for an enterprise’s software library. PSS users can easily search out the software needed for a task and request it to be installed on their workstations. PSS puts the power in the hands of users to virtually request and receive the software applications necessary to do their jobs, while maintaining central configuration control of the enterprise.
Agile Dashboard™ – Gain knowledge how the Agile Dashboard enables the visualization of core devices across an organization’s entire IT enterprise. This cost-effective tool allows real-time visualization to quickly resolve any issues without major impact to users and the enterprise.
Self Help™ – Learn about the NJVC Self Help solution under SNAPSS: a live chat, problem resolution tool. Users can communicate with help desk personnel in real time, using screen sharing, video and/or audio.
AV Room Automation – Investigate unified communications through an intuitive control interface. Explore the possibility of standardizing your enterprise with a catalog of pre-engineered solutions to fit every need.

More than 200 exhibitors will showcase their services and products at the GEOINT 2011 Symposium Exhibit Hall. Approximately 4,000 people are expected to attend the symposium, including the leadership of the intelligence, defense and homeland security communities.

###

About NJVC

Dara Dirth
571.405.2741
dara.dirth@njvc.com

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )

Mr. Jeffrey Kaplan Talks About The Cloud Channel

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 18:14:00 +0000

This afternoon I had a very interesting discussion with Mr. Jeffrey Kaplan, Managing Director of THINKstrategies and founder of the Cloud Computing Showplace. His firm is focused entirely on the business implications of the transition of the technology industry from product-centric to services-driven solutions, including Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Cloud Computing and Managed Services. Mr. Kaplan is also the Founder of the Cloud Computing Showplace (www.cloudshowplace.com), a vendor-independent, online directory and best practice resource center regarding SaaS, Platforms-as-a-Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), including Managed Services with nearly 1,800 companies divided into over 90 categories.

Our conversation focused on the evolution of the system integrator within the public sector marketplace. One of his key goals was to dispel the myth that system integrators and their channel partners will be displaced by the rapidly growing list of cloud providers. In his view, system inegrator must quickly evolve their businesses to deliver cloud based solutions. Today's traditional information technology channel sales model will morph into a new cloud channel sales model.

If you're interested in learning more about this transition, you should consider attending the Cloud Channel Summit being held in Mountain View, Ca, November 7, 2011. the purpose of this conference is to:

Foster greater communication about the channel opportunities in the Cloud Computing market.
Give major Cloud vendors a venue where they can demonstrate that they are channel-friendly and discuss the business benefits of their channel programs.
Give channel companies an opportunity to learn about industry best practices and the channel programs being offered by the leading cloud vendors so they can capitalize on these new market opportunities; and
To provide an important networking opportunity for corporate executives and channel managers to interact and learn about what’s working and not in the rapidly evolving Cloud marketplace.

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )

The Economic Benefit of Cloud Computing

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 16:32:00 +0000

(The following is the Executive Summary of a recent NJVC Executive Whitepaper. The full version is available at NJVC.com )

Cloud computing, as defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, is a model for enabling “… convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.” NIST is implying the economies of scale that go with cloud computing when it refers to a pool of configurable computing resources.

Cloud computing is often referred to as a technology. However, it is actually a significant shift in the business and economic models for provisioning and consuming information technology (IT) that can lead to a significant cost savings. This cost savings can only be realized through the use of significant pooling of these “configurable computing resources” or resource pooling. According to NIST, this capability is an essential characteristic of cloud computing. Resource pooling is the ability of a cloud to serve multiple customers using a multi-tenant model with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to demand.

Cloud computing economics depends on four customer population metrics:

Number of Unique Customer Sets (n)
Customer Set Duty Cycles (λ,f)
Relative Duty Cycle Displacement (t)
Customer Set Load (L)

These metrics drive the cloud provider’s ability to use the minimum amount of physical IT resources to service a maximum level of IT resource demand. Properly balancing these factors across a well characterized user group can lead to approximately 30-percent savings in IT resources, and enables the near real-time modification of the underlying physical infrastructure required for the delivery of the desired “illusion of infinite resources” synonymous with a cloud computing user’s experience.

When implemented properly, the cloud computing economic model can drastically reduce the operations and maintenance cost of IT infrastructures. A 2009 Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) study concluded that a cloud computing approach could save 50 to 67 percent of the lifecycle cost for a 1,000-server deployment. Another Deloitte study confirmed that cloud deployments delivered greater investment returns with a shorter payback period when compared to the traditional on-premise delivery option.

In considering cloud computing for the Intelligence Community, security is an obvious concern. Given the legal and operational concerns, classified information should always be processed in properly protected and certified IC private or community clouds. If a secure cloud model can be designed, economic savings can certainly be realized.

When used to process unclassified information, sharing cloud computing resources can nominally provide the operational advantages of a private cloud with a cost closer to that of a public cloud due to the expected economies of scale from combined user communities.

The federal government is currently deploying a federal community cloud. Officially referred to as the General Services Administration Infrastructure as a Service Blanket Purchase Agreement (GSA IaaS BPA; item #4 in the White House CIO’s “25 Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal Information Technology Management”), this Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) vehicle is designed to implement a community cloud economic model to support the federal government. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) expects this community to provide approximately $20 billion in cloud computing services to a community made up of more than 25 agencies.

Using the BAH study as a guide, and assuming that community cloud economies mimic those expected from a hybrid cloud, transitioning IT services from an agency-owned IT infrastructure to the GSA IaaS platform should deliver benefit cost ratios of approximately 7:1.

Cloud computing provides some strong benefits and economic incentives. Selecting a public, private, hybrid or community cloud implementation will depend on a customer’s specific application, performance, security and compliance requirements. Proper deployment can provide significant savings, better IT services and a higher level of reliability.

Lower Costs
Cap-Ex Free Computing
Deploy Projects Faster, Foster Innovation
Scale as Needed
Lower Maintenance Costs
Resiliency and Redundancy

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )

Implementation of Cloud Computing Solutions in Federal Agencies: Part 4 - Cloud Computing for Defense and Intelligence

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 15:00:00 +0000

(This is part 4 of the series entitled "Implementation of Cloud Computing Solutions in Federal Agencies". First published on Forbes.com, this series provides the content of a whitepaper I recently authored. A copy of the complete whitepaper will be available at NJVC.com starting September 7, 2011.)

The defense and intelligence communities are not immune to cloud computing. Arguably more than any other government agencies, their missions require a fabric of utility computing that scales on demand and enables self discovery and self-service access to secure, timely and relevant information in support of mission: individual or shared. The traditional IT model requires system engineering that binds most software to the hardware and does not provide an enterprise suite of functionality or allow for increased flexibility and a governed lifecycle of services. Designing software independence from the hardware allows an operating system, applications and data to “live” across the enterprise and is fundamental to the transformation of compute, storage and network functionality.

Defense is dealing with a $78 billion budget cut—the first since September 11, 2001—and another $100 billion in other cost-cutting measures over a five-year period commencing in FY 2012. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is directing that the budget be cut from agency administrative and structural areas (e.g., the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Network Intelligence and Information, the Business Transformation Agency, and the Joint Forces Command are in the process of being eliminated or disestablished with some essential functions transferred to other organizations with the Pentagon).

In an official statement on the proposed budget costs provided on January 6, 2011, Secretary Gates said: “First, reforming how the department uses information technology, which costs us about $37 billion a year. At this time all of our bases and headquarters have their own separate IT infrastructure and processes, which drive up costs and create cyber vulnerabilities. The department is planning to consolidate hundreds of data centers and move to a more secure enterprise system, which we estimate could save more than $1 billion a year.” Department of Defense Chief Information Officer Terry Takai also publically commented about the potential IT budget cuts at an April 21, 2011, INPUT event. Takai commented on DoD’s support of the move of some of its IT operations to the cloud—particularly data centers.

Cloud Computing and Mission Support

Information is often the decisive discriminator in modern conflict. Studies of recent mission failures highlighted this fact, finding that many of these failures were caused by:

Existence of data silos
Human-based document exploitation process
Reliance on “operationally proven” processes and filters typically used to address the lack of computational power or decision time

Also disturbing is that in most of these cases, the critical piece of information necessary for mission was in possession. The failure wasn’t in obtaining the information, but in locating and applying it to the mission at hand. Cloud computing uniquely addresses all of these important issues.

Data silos evolved from a system-centric IT proc urement policy and an almost reflexive reliance onrelational database technology. In developing early data processing systems, the high cost of memory and storage led to a premium being placed on the efficiency of application data access and retrieval. Relational database technology effectively addressed this need, which in turn led to its pervasive use across government. In modern IT system development, memory and storage are cheap—and getting cheaper—which has led to internet-scale storage and search paradigms that are the stuff of everyday use today. The world’s largest databases cannot, in fact, be searched quickly using a relational database management approach. Today’s ability to search multi-petabyte data stores in milliseconds virtually eliminates the need for data silos. This capability is realized in cloud-based storage. Documents are the persistent records of human activity. As such, they are used to provide insight into the societal structure and processes of our opponents. Conflict, however, is entity and event centric. The intelligence professional must, therefore, interpret documents and translate that data into operationally relevant entities and events. The time and resource intensive nature of this skillcraft is perfectly suited for the precision search and analytic capabilities of the modern compute cloud. The use of highly standardized and virtualized commodity infrastructure, not only make the automation of this function possible, but it enables real-time continuous processing of the now digital document flow of our adversaries. This commodity also removes the human from this tedious task, allowing intelligence professionals to apply higher order professional analysis and insight.

The human-based document exploitation process led directly to an institutional reliance on the aforementioned “operationally proven” processes and filters. Instantiated by the use of multi-page structure query language and the ubiquitous goal of obtaining an appropriate “working set” of data, these time-honored processes were born from the need to meet critical decision timelines within a computationally inadequate environment. Cloud techniques and technologies can now be used to work on all the data. And with an ability to leverage the power of a supercomputer at will, the working set requirement is now an anachronism and critical decision timelines can now be more easily met.

Cloud computing is unique in its ability to address these critical defense and intelligence mission needs. That’s why cloud computing is critical to our national defense. As a bonus, cloud computing offers defense and intelligence agencies the ability to increase efficiencies and incur marked cost savings during their lifecycles to alleviate some of the pressure of budget reductions. Moving IT operations to the cloud also will assist in enhanced collaboration.

http://www.defense.gov/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1527

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )

Implementation of Cloud Computing Solutions in Federal Agencies : Part 3 - Cloud Transition Lessons Learned

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:00:00 +0000

(This is part 3 of the series entitled "Implementation of Cloud Computing Solutions in Federal Agencies". First published on Forbes.com, this series provides the content of a whitepaper I recently authored. A copy of the complete whitepaper will be available at NJVC.com starting September 7, 2011.)

While the benefits and value of the federal cloud computing policy can be debated, the world’s transition to cloud computing as an integral component of any IT infrastructure cannot be denied. The prudent government executive should, therefore, heed the lessons learned from the many private industry corporations that already have miles behind them on this journey.

When identifying a potential cloud computing project, one should always count on a multi-year transition. Organizations should always use a consistent cloud opportunity identification process to reduce the risk of project failure by leveraging data from successful cloud implementations. Clients need to determine set metrics (economic, operational and service) with direct linkage to specific mission requirement(s). Use of a gate-driven cloud adoption process designed to terminate failed projects early in the project lifecycle and deliver measurable capabilities within a quick timeframe (weeks—not years) is highly recommended.

A risk mitigation plan also must be formalized that addresses each of the following concerns:²

Loss of Governance. When moving to a cloud environment, clients relinquish control to the CP on a number of security-related issues. A gap in security defenses may also exist as service level agreements may not adequately address CP-related security requirements.
Portability. Issues related to provider lock in are outlined in the Challenges section of this white paper on page 5.
Isolation Failure. Multi-tenancy and collaboration are at the core of cloud computing. Resource isolation failure addresses mechanisms separating storage, memory, routing and reputation among different clients on the same cloud (e.g., guest-hopping attacks). However, it must be noted that attacks on these mechanisms are not as pervasive and much more difficult to attempt versus attacks on traditional operating systems.
Compliance Risks. Investments in certifications (e.g., industry standard or regulatory requirements) may be compromised or lost when moving to the cloud.
Management Interface Compromise. Security is an issue with client management interfaces with the public cloud provider. The reason? These services are provided via the internet and permit access to a larger set of resources than traditional operating systems. Security risk can dramatically increase when this is combined with remote access and web browser vulnerabilities.
Data Protection. It may be difficult for clients to effectively check the data-handling practices of their CPs to ensure critical and sensitive data is handled lawfully and ethically. This problem can be aggravated in cases of multiple transfers of data (e.g., between federated clouds). However, it must be noted that some CPs share information on their data-handling practices with clients and others offer certification summaries on their data processing and data security activities and their various security controls (e.g., Statement on Auditing Standards 70 Certification.
Insecure or Incomplete Data Deletion. As with most operating systems, when a request to remove a cloud resource is made, a true erase of data may not happen. Adequate or timely data deletion also may not be feasible (or undesirable from a client perspective) because extra copies of data are stored but not readily available or the disk to be destroyed also houses other data from other clients. When multi-tenancies and the reuse of hardware resources are added to the mix, this risk can increase.
Malicious Insider. Cloud architectures necessitate the creation of certain staff positions (e.g., CP system administrators and managed security service providers) that can be extremely high risk in terms of internal security threats.

Creating a Cloud Computing Roadmap for Federal Agencies First Steps

According to, GovCloud: Cloud Computing for the Business of Government, when a government agency is ready to undertake the implementation of a cloud-based solution, it must determine which IT services, business functions and processes to deploy in the cloud environment. A five-year roadmap should be created that includes the desired order to move each of the services to the cloud for each year during that time period.³ Requirements for each service to be deployed in the cloud should be developed and a cost/benefits analysis performed to establish the rationale why each targeted service should move to the cloud.

Implementation of a Low-Risk Test Case

A low-risk test case should be implemented prior to undertaking a wholesale transfer of services to the cloud.⁴ This is harder than it may sound as some IT services that may seem simple to deploy to the cloud are not so easy. Four questions should be asked (and answered) to decide which IT services are best suited to live in the cloud⁵:

Can compliance requirements be balanced with other IT prioirities?
Is this an IT function or service the agency has mastered?
Can the agency use a standardized service?
Is the test case easily implementable?

A misconception may exist that just because an application or service being deployed to the cloud isn’t mission critical, the process will be simple and straightforward. This is not always true. If the agency is new to the cloud and wishes to establish a private cloud it will take time to determine the appropriate split of responsibilities between the service provider and the agency’s IT team.⁶ Compliance and liability issues can also be tricky, as defining compliance conditions and establishing liability for intellectual property protection with cloud vendors reach well beyond the IT world—and, as such, with so many moving parts may take time to properly address and resolved.⁷ NIST has launched the U.S. Government Cloud Computing Business Case Working Group to assist agencies with the development of cloud-compatible user cases. Email, geospatial data exchange and services management are among the first user cases currently in development.

Additional Recommendations

The authors of GovCloud: Cloud Computing for the Business of Government also offer seven recommendations that must be considered during the development and implementation of an agency’s cloud roadmap:

Own the information, even if you own nothing else. An agency must claim its right to own the information even if it doesn’t own the infrastructure, application or service associated with that information. Any agency is liable for its information—regardless of where it lives—and some education will likely be needed about this fact among its IT team. While it may be unrealistic to prevent departments from provisioning their own cloud application, the agency must institute policies and procedures to ensure it can monitor how information deployed to the cloud is managed. As it is often hard to envision future uses of information, it also is recommended that agencies make sure cloud-dwelling data can be brought back into the enterprise if needed.
Don’t take terminology for granted. It is vital to ensure that important terminology is defined in the same way by the agency and the cloud service provider—room for different interpretation always exists. A review of information governance policies must take place to identify the areas of highest risk so authoritative definitions for vocabulary in these areas can be developed and adopted.
Hope for standards, but prepare to integrate. In short, the cloud is young and isn’t established enough to have developed standard specifications for platform interoperability and data exchange. Strategic groundwork for future data integration needs to be laid in the early stages of any movement to the cloud. Agencies must insist that their cloud service providers provide clear documentation on the data formats and schemas used for information storage in their systems.
Control cloud platform proliferation. Agencies should minimize the number of different cloud platforms that require support to limit information fragmentation and decrease the chance of a future huge integration effort. To the greatest extent possible, an agency’s IT team should help departments look for shared requirements in standardized business functions. The team can identify cloud platforms that meet these needs and consolidate the agency’s services on them, when possible. Not only will the ability to share information increase, this will result in greater leverage when negotiating contract terms and pricing.
Make the information “cloud ready.” Agencies that organize their data sets well enough for use across multiple platforms will be best positioned to take advantage of cloud services, and will be better able to deploy enterprise information to the cloud more easily.IT teams need to get into the habit of encrypting data into one common format (probably XML)—a process even more important if data moves through externally operated resources to the cloud.
Master solution integration. The shift to the cloud requires IT professionals to change their focus from owning and operating enterprise systems to becoming master information service integrators. In addition to linking legacy databases to SaaS, IT teams need to connect their private and public clouds to create a seamless technology environment that works like a single cloud custom-made for their specific enterprises.

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )

Implementation of Cloud Computing Solutions in Federal Agencies : Part 2 - Challenges of Cloud Computing

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 11:43:00 +0000

(This is part 2 of the series entitled "Implementation of Cloud Computing Solutions in Federal Agencies" that first appeared on Forbes.com. This series provides the content of a whitepaper I recently authored. A copy of the complete whitepaper will be available at NJVC.com starting September 7, 2011.)

Despite the myriad benefits of cloud computing solutions, several challenges still exist. Being a young industry, there are few tools, procedures or standard data formats or service interfaces in place to guarantee data, computer application and service portability. As evidenced with the recent situation involving the services failure of Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud, outages can be a potential risk—and can have widespread implications for consumers of cloud services. This risk becomes even more severe if a mission-critical environment could be impacted.

A benefit as well as a challenge, security concerns have also slowed the widespread adoption of cloud computing. A variety of security concerns exist. According to the article, “Three Cloud Computing Risks to Consider,” in Information Security Magazine (June 2009), “the logging and auditing controls provided by some [cloud] vendors are not yet as robust as the logging providing within enterprises and enterprise applications,” which can put critical and sensitive data and information at risk. Security, of course, becomes increasingly critical in defense and intelligence IT environments.

For the government market, the lack of regulations and compliance standards are also cause for concern. Currently, no federal regulations are in place to govern cloud computing, and according to an April 2011 Information Systems Audit and Control Association survey of 1,800 Chief Information Officers (CIOs), compliance is a top risk. Approximately 30 percent of the CIOs surveyed said that “compliance projects are the biggest driver for IT risk-related projects”—particularly in public clouds. Specific to federal environments, data sovereignty is a challenge. According to a speech given by Federal CIO Vivek Kundra at an April 7, 2010, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) forum," [Data sovereignty] is not going to be a question of technology. [Data sovereignty] is going to be a question of international law, and treaties that we will need to engage in the coming years.” CIO Kundra later added: “We've got a very diverse interpretation and a very diverse perspective when it comes to privacy or international security, if you look at our neighbors—Canada or Mexico—versus what's happening in the European Union.”

Cloud Computing and the Federal Government

The Obama administration has identified cloud computing as a means to achieve savings in IT budgets across federal agencies—across the board—and to address various other challenges (e.g., delays to capabilities and other inefficiencies) that have negatively impacted IT implementations. In his Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 budget, President Barack Obama ordered a three-year freeze in spending for non-defense, intelligence and national security programs and the trimming of the budgets of some federal agencies by five percent. At a July 1, 2010, House subcommittee hearing, CIO Kundra testified: “To do more than less [in terms for federal spending], we need game changing technologies. Cloud computing is one such technology.” The federal government is in the early stages of a decade-long process to “move to the cloud,” but has taken definitive steps in its adoption. Several key milestones have been achieved during the past two years in support of this effort:

2009: Establishment of the General Services Administration (GSA) Cloud Computing Program Office to coordinate the government’s cloud computing efforts; assembly of a public-private sector Industry Summit to discuss the benefits and risks of cloud computing; and creation of Security and Standards Working Groups to encourage collaboration and discussion on cloud computing by federal agencies
2010: Commencement of the development of federal security certification and accreditation processes for cloud services; convening of a NIST-hosted, public-private sector “Cloud Computing Forum and Workshop” to collaboratively develop cloud standards; release of 25-point federal IT reform plan; announcement by GSA and Federal Chief Information Officers Council on the requirements for the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, a standard approach for the federal government to access and authorize secure cloud-computing services and products
2011: Release of the Federal Cloud Computing Strategy (per the Obama administration’s 25-point IT reform plan) and award of 12 GSA IaaS blanket purchase agreements

The Obama administration adopted a “cloud-first” policy as part of its earlier referenced 25-point federal IT reform plan. This plan was developed after extensive review of federal IT projects with a particularly hard eye on 26 large-scale projects at risk due to being over budget and behind schedule. This policy is part of the 2012 budget process. One of the first steps in the “cloud-first” adoption is the requirement for every federal agency to develop and implement one cloud-based solution by December 2011 and three cloud-based solutions by June 2012. As of April 2011, agencies are making progress in this endeavor. During a special White House event, CIO Kundra said that CIOs from 15 agencies have already informed the Office of Management and Budget that they will evolve to cloud-based email solutions by the December 2011 deadline.

Cloud computing also has been identified by the Obama administration as a viable solution to the administration’s challenge to cut the federal budget via the consolidation of 800 of the government’s 2,094 data centers by 2015. CIO Kundra has specifically identified cloud computing as a central measure to reduce the costs and increase the efficiencies of federal data centers. Cost savings are already being achieved. At an April 12, 2011 Senate subcommittee hearing, Dave McClure, Associate Administrator, GSA Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, testified that the consolidation of just 12 data centers to three will save $2 million a year. Mr. McClure also testified that GSA’s move to a cloud-based email system will save $15 million over the next five years.

So, whether or not federal agency CIOs support cloud computing, the evolution to the cloud in their specific IT environments is not something to consider in the future: it is something to undertake today—and is mandated. Therefore, the way the federal government conceives of IT operations must change from traditional practices and operating systems to new enterprise resource controls, standards and business processes and operations. With the computing stacks functioning as a utility within the infrastructure as a platform and new business processes in place, highly automated resources provide the extensible platform needed to meet agency or mission needs.

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Implementation of Cloud Computing Solutions in Federal Agencies : Part 1-Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 17:25:00 +0000

(This post first appeared on "Cloud Musings on Forbes". This series provides the content of a whitepaper I recently authored. A copy of the complete whitepaper is available at NJVC.com starting September 7, 2011.)

Introduction

Cloud computing is a new approach in the provisioning and consumption of information technology (IT). While technology is a crucial component, the real value of cloud computing lies in its ability to enable new capabilities or in the execution of current capabilities in more efficient and effective ways.

Although the current hype around cloud computing has focused on expected cost savings, the true value is really found in the mission and business enhancements these techniques can provide. When properly deployed, the cloud computing model provides greatly enhanced mission and business capability without a commensurate increase in resource (time, people or money) expenditures.

Cloud Computing: Changing the Game

The use of commodity components, coupled with highly automated controls, enable cloud computing.¹These characteristics also enable the economic model that makes it so disruptive to the status quo. As an example, the software-as-a-service cloud delivery model typically does not require any advance usage commitment or long-term contractual arrangements. SaaS not only changes the typical software vendor business model, but also radically changes the strategy, budgeting, buying and management options for the buyer. When Salesforce.com proved the viability of SaaS, the software subscription model was instantly endangered as a profitable business model. Amazon Web Services is similarly attacking data center hosting with its Virtual Private Datacenter Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering.

Looking at this phenomenon from another angle, different cloud computing deployment models are actually changing what it means to be an IT professional. Since the days of the first computer, IT workers have prided themselves in their ability to design, build, operate and fix the enterprise hardware and software components that comprise the IT lifeblood of organizations—both in the public and private sectors. These tightly knit teams worked hard to keep these custom-made platforms updated, patched and ready to meet daily business and mission requirements. In the cloud computing world, IT infrastructure that is not delivering differentiating value is viewed as worthless cost. Critical business applications like email, Customer Resource Management (CRM), Human Resource Management and Enterprise Resource Planning are being routed to more capable cloud providers of these same services. This transition puts the enterprise IT professional into a service management role, responsible for helping his or her internal customers better use externally provided IT services. The new enterprise IT department is more a services organization than the traditional delivery organization.

The new cloud economic model also radically changes the view of what’s actually possible. Traditional IT procurement and provisioning processes have historically driven timelines associated with the delivery or fielding of improved information and data processing capabilities. Multiple threads of development, test, training and maintenance can also tax an organization’s short- and long-term financial resources. IaaS and Platform as a Service options can not only eliminate or limit capital expenditures, but can reduce or eliminate the expectation of operations and sustainment costs. The time required to realize mission or business value also is substantially reduced. With these differences, the impossible can suddenly become not only possible, but often can lead to new mission capabilities or brand-new cloud-enabled, revenue-generating businesses.

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )

FedPlatform.org Focuses on a Government PaaS

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 15:58:00 +0000

With GSA now issuing ATOs and Amazon launching it's own government specific cloud, IaaS for government agencies is now a reality. This next step in this "Cloud First" march is a consistent platform on which agencies can securely develop their applications.

To focus on this requirement, FedPlatform.org has been formed as a collaborative initiative to help federal organizations safely learn about and evaluate PaaS technologies. The initiative supports the Federal Cloud Computing Strategy and the Federal CIO’s 25-Point Federal IT Reform Plan, which suggests that cloud technologies provide new efficiencies and substantial cost savings. The FedPlatform.org mission is to facilitate implementations that adhere to rapidly evolving cloud computing standards, with a heavy focus on interoperability, portability and security.

FedPlatform also aims to provide a common security model for federal software systems that leverages the platform. In doing so, it provides major security advantages over disparate stovepipe security models.
Platforms as a Service incorporate a common role-based access control (RBAC) engine for managing users, workshops, roles, privileges, and memberships. It supports timeouts, strong passwords, password expirations, appropriate encryptions, and RSA tokens. SSL is also available. The hosting can be fully managed on Amazon’s EC2, a GSA IaaS platform or even on an agency's own infrastructure. They are also making available a collection of tools and resources to help advance organizations from prototyping through production environments on private, community, hybrid or public clouds.

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On The Frontlines: GovCloud and Cybersecurity

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Jackson) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:12:00 +0000

My friends at Trezza Media recently published a couple of great online documents on GovCloud and Cyber. Your should especially check out the "Cloud Chopping Made Easy" by David McClure .....

and Jim Flyzik's viewpoint on building trust in cyberspace.

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )

Cloud Musings by Kevin L. Jackson

FedRAMP PMO Releases First Set of 3PAOs

FedRAMP Releases Updated Security Assessment Plan Templates

NJVC® and Gravitant® Announce New Strategic Alliance: Partnership to Benefit Federal Agencies with Powerful Provision and Management of Cloud Services that Unify Multiple Providers

NJVC® VP and GM, Cloud Services, Kevin L. Jackson to Speak on Cloud Security at 2012 Emerging Threats and Cyber Defense Symposium

NJVC’s Kevin L. Jackson Co-Authors INSA White Paper on Cloud Computing for the Intelligence Community

Contacts

INSA Study on Cloud Computing in the Intelligence Community: Rollout 13 March 2012 | SYS-CON MEDIA

International Public Sector Cloud Computing Summit in DC

Jill T. Singer, NRO CIO, Named One of 10 Top Women in Cloud Computing !!

NJVC® and Virtual Global Announce Release of PaaS White Paper: Paper Clarifies the Confusion Surrounding PaaS for Federal IT Buyers—Why It Is Important and How It Can Cut Development Costs by 50 Percent

About NJVC

About Virtual Global

Contact

December 2011: GovCloud Moves From Policy to Law

CloudMASTER & CloudGURU Certification Comes To Washington, DC

GovCloud.com !! The New Hub for Government Cloud Computing

Backupify Names Top 10 Cloud Computing Experts to Follow on Twitter

NJVC® Cloud Computing Expert Kevin Jackson to Speak at NIST Cloud Computing Forum & Workshop IV on Nov. 3 in Gaithersburg, Md.

About NJVC

Contact

NJVC® General Manager, Cloud Services, Kevin Jackson to Moderate “Cloud Computing and the Intelligence Mission” Panel at GEOINT 2011 Symposium

NJVC® Spotlights Cyber Security and Automated IT at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo® 2011

About NJVC

About Gartner Symposium/ITxpo

Contact

NJVC® to Demonstrate Enterprise Automation at GEOINT 2011

Mr. Jeffrey Kaplan Talks About The Cloud Channel

The Economic Benefit of Cloud Computing

Implementation of Cloud Computing Solutions in Federal Agencies: Part 4 - Cloud Computing for Defense and Intelligence

Implementation of Cloud Computing Solutions in Federal Agencies : Part 3 - Cloud Transition Lessons Learned

Implementation of Cloud Computing Solutions in Federal Agencies : Part 2 - Challenges of Cloud Computing

Implementation of Cloud Computing Solutions in Federal Agencies : Part 1-Introduction

FedPlatform.org Focuses on a Government PaaS

On The Frontlines: GovCloud and Cybersecurity