Kevin Jackson

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 j... (more)

FedRAMP Releases Updated Security Assessment Plan Templates

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... (more)

NJVC® and Gravitant® Announce New Strategic Alliance

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 Gravi... (more)

NRO CIO Named One of 10 Top Women in Cloud

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... (more)

A Tactical Cloud Computing Ontology

In an effort to encourage standards and interoperability, the cloud computing community is currently discussing architectural ontologies. Core to most approaches is an assumption of open access, public Internet connectivity and security provisioning by the cloud service provider. Solutions for the government marketplace, however, cannot make these assumptions. This article discusses an expansion of the cloud computing ontology put forth in a paper by the University of California at Santa Barbara and IBM. To address the needs of this specific marketplace, this Tactical Cloud Comp... (more)