07/10/2007: Cisco, EMC, Microsoft, and
Titus Labs Align to Offer Comprehensive Technology Architecture
for Helping Protect and Share Sensitive Government Information
SISA Alliance unites industry leaders to produce a
breakthrough in sensitive information exchange for government
and private sector.
WASHINGTON — July 10, 2007 — Cisco®, EMC® Corp. and Microsoft
Corp. today announced the formation of an alliance of technology
vendors that will offer one of the most comprehensive,
security-enhanced, commercial, multi-vendor, end-to-end
information-sharing technology architectures for helping protect
and share sensitive government information. The Secure
Information Sharing Architecture (SISA) combines
industry-leading applications, information infrastructure, and
networking technologies to help protect customers’ existing
information technology (IT) investments. This architecture
offers a consistent approach for breaking down the barriers
across traditional organizational and jurisdictional IT
infrastructure boundaries, so sensitive human resources,
financial and other information that is critical to mission
accomplishment can have increased protection and be shared among
authorized communities more effectively than if they were not to
deploy SISA.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. governmental agencies have
increased their focus on protecting sensitive content from being
lost or stolen, while simultaneously working to create a more
connected government. Better and more secure connectivity will
enable sharing sensitive content across government agencies.
Cisco, EMC and Microsoft, with support from other industry
leaders, founded the SISA Alliance to develop IT architectures
that permit only authorized personnel access to specific
information while easing the management of shared, protected
information across trusted communities.
“While government is attempting to break down the barriers
between organizations to enable information sharing, it is also
struggling with numerous high-profile data loss incidents.
Breaking down barriers between government and partner
organizations will require better confidence in the ability to
keep information in the hands of only the appropriate users,”
said Steve Cooper, former chief information officer for the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security. “I applaud Cisco, EMC and
Microsoft for coming together to provide us with a multivendor
architecture for sharing information across different agencies
so government agencies can collaborate better and respond more
effectively where and when they are needed.”
Historically, information protection technologies have been
enforced system-by-system, creating islands of protected data.
Some government agencies are having trouble providing role-based
access to sensitive content within their own organizations, and
the problems become much more difficult when sharing sensitive
content across different agencies. By utilizing SISA, government
agencies can more easily set up security-enhanced, virtual
networks for different authorized users and communities to
access sensitive files stored in different information
protection systems. SISA will enable new scenarios for
cross-government information sharing. For example, in the future
SISA could be deployed to allow public health officials to
monitor confidential data on pandemics found in different
government agencies and private sector databases, and coordinate
necessary response efforts with both government agencies and
critical private sector partners.
Cisco, EMC and Microsoft are providing the core commercial
off-the-shelf technology that makes up SISA to ease the sharing
of information contained in disparate IT
infrastructures. Through its industry-leading networking
solutions, Cisco provides network protection, security-enhanced
virtualized network links, and data protection features for
sharing sensitive information across the network platform. EMC’s
networked storage systems, information management and security
software provides a flexible information infrastructure for
storing, managing and helping protect critical and sensitive
data. Microsoft provides identity management, client and network
operating systems, and a collaboration framework that helps keep
content in the hands of authorized users.
The SISA Alliance also includes technology vendors that bring
innovative approaches to fulfill specific requirements. Liquid
Machines in Waltham, Mass., provides solutions that enhance the
SISA content-protection capabilities by extending the Microsoft®
Digital Rights Management technology. Swan Island Networks, Inc.
in Portland, Ore., designs and operates sensitive
information-sharing systems. Titus Labs in Ottawa, Canada,
offers information labeling and classification solutions that
determine how content protection should be applied. As
customers’ needs evolve, the alliance will incorporate
additional technology vendors to bring innovative approaches to
fulfill other specific requirements.
Six companies are working together to deliver a technology
architecture for helping to protect and share sensitive
information for governments. This working relationship
highlights the complexity of SISA and showcases the need for a
well-defined go-to-market strategy. The companies have agreed to
employ a partner-led go-to-market strategy, complete with a
three-tier certification program, allowing potential SISA
customers to select from a range of delivery partners offering a
variety of strategy, technology and business services. SISA
delivery partners will receive SISA training as part of the
certification program that will validate the capabilities of
systems integrators and other professional service firms to
provide implementation, administration and analysis support to
SISA customers.
The formalized business alliance will be managed by Addx
Corp., a principal provider of information and management
sciences services. With the goal of providing the full range of
technical and program services to all customers, Addx
established the SISA Joint Program Office to manage both the
solution architecture and the systems integrator certification
process. For more information on SISA and the Alliance, go to:
http://www.SISAalliance.com.
About Cisco Systems
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking
that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate.
Information about Cisco can be found at
http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to
http://newsroom.cisco.com.
About EMC
EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) is the world’s leading developer
and provider of information infrastructure technology and
solutions that enable organizations of all sizes to transform
the way they compete and create value from their information.
Information about EMC’s products and services can be found at
www.EMC.com.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide
leader in software, services and solutions that help people and
businesses realize their full potential.
About Titus Labs
Titus Labs is the leading provider of email and document
classification software solutions that make it possible for
organizations to manage and control the flow of sensitive
information inside and outside their enterprise and to meet
policy and compliance requirements. Titus Labs Message
Classification and Document Classification solutions allow
companies in the military, government, financial services, and
healthcare industries to share information securely. Titus Labs
solutions help enterprises adhere to information security
regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, NASD 2711, HIPAA and others.
Based in Ottawa, Canada, Titus Labs is privately held. For more
information on the company visit us at
www.titus-labs.com.
Media Contact:
Sandra Catana
Director of Marketing - Titus Labs
(613) 820-5111 x199 (office)
(613) 820-5154 (fax)
sandra.catana@titus-labs.com
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