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Austin Data Center's "Federal Zone" Now Ready to Deliver On Demand for Government

As the U.S. federal government moves aggressively toward the adoption of shared services, two agencies are slated to implement solutions in Oracle On Demand's new Federal Zone in the Austin Data Center.

The move follows last year's mandate from U.S. Office of Management and Budget Controller Linda Combs that "at minimum, agencies must consider pursuing hosting and application management shared services."

Oracle responded with a mandate of its own: to build the Federal Zone, a secure area designed to meet stringent federal standards for data and operational security.

The Federal Zone was launched in October 2006, is now operational, and by the end of July 2007 is expected to be able to audit and certify a total solution—from Oracle applications to complete IT infrastructure—to the federal government.

Inside the Federal Zone
The Federal Zone is a special, federal-only area within the Austin Data Center that meets stringent federal standards for security.

Federal servers are housed in a specially constructed metal enclosure and run on an independent network protected by its own firewall. The entire solution was architected and designed to adhere to guidelines and controls established by the Department of Defense (DoD) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to meet the security needs of most DoD and civilian federal agencies. These measures are in addition to the Austin Data Center's existing embassy-level security, which includes badges backed up by a PIN code and biometrics for every employee.

Certification and Accreditation
Currently, Oracle On Demand's Federal Zone is undergoing rigorous certification and accreditation (C&A) in accordance with DoD Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process (DIACAP) and NIST methodologies. Oracle expects to complete the certification process by the end of July 2007.

The C&A process is a standardized approach designed to ensure federal information systems operate at an acceptable level of risk, from definition of standards through post-accreditation monitoring.

The security team at Oracle's Austin Data Center is working closely with KPMG to complete the plan for the Federal Zone's C&A process.

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