Lockheed Martin calls on Cisco, VCE for cloud security in the public sector

Cisco, collaborating with a number of other cloud providers, has developed a private cloud solution for the public sector.

Starfire Mission Ready Cloud, released by Lockheed Martin, integrates the Virtual Computing Environment developed by Cisco, EMC and VMware to provide a secure cloud computing solution for state, federal and even local government agencies and departments. Lockheed Martin, a major government contractor, consulted the cloud vendors to help create a fully functional cloud solution that satisfied the government's strict security needs for managing sensitive data.

"Customers are looking for the benefits inherent in cloud computing without compromising compliance and security requirements. We believe that through partnering and innovation we have addressed these concerns within the secure Starfire solution," said Curt Aubley, vice president of the NexGen Cyber Security & Innovation at Lockheed Martin.

The company pursued a secure cloud computing solution as a result of a survey of its partners found the general consensus was a concern over security. However, consulting some of the industry's most advanced vendors helped Lockheed Martin prepare Starfire Mission Ready Cloud for the security regulations it would need to satisfy for public sector use.

A government technology official in the UK recently declared the country has the most advanced cloud computing, citing progress in security and recognizing the environment in the U.S. as pursuing new cloud security solutions.