Initial Collaboration Targeted for H1’ 2012 Delivery will Align Cloud Security Best Practices with Alliance Customer Requirements

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Open Data Center Alliance (ODCA) and Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) announced a strategic collaboration today which will accelerate industry standard delivery of cloud solutions to meet customer requirements for broad cloud computing implementation. Initial collaboration focus will align ODCA Cloud Service Provider Assurance and Monitoring requirements with CSA best practices and collaborate on cloud security certification training and testing. Initial results from the collaboration are targeted for the first half of 2012.

Security concerns are frequently recognized as the largest barrier against more broad cloud adoption. A newly released survey of ODCA members found that security concerns top all challenges identified by members as the largest obstacle to implementing cloud solutions. The collaboration between the leading industry minds on cloud security, with leading enterprise and cloud service providers, will focus the organizations on the most pressing security challenges facing cloud adoption. The ODCA estimates that industry standard solution delivery of targeted customer requirements will help accelerate over $50B in cloud investment in the next three years.

“Our membership has consistently cited security as a leading challenge for adoption of cloud computing,” said Denis McGee, National Australia Bank general manager, application development and testing. “By connecting customer requirement definitions from Alliance security usage models with cloud best practices developed by the CSA, we can help accelerate work by both organizations as well as deliver aligned definitions of security innovation targets to the industry.”

Initial collaboration engagements include alignment of the ODCA’s Cloud Security Assurance and Monitoring usage models with CSA’s Cloud Audit specification and STAR (Security, Trust, and Registry) program. Initial results of these engagements are expected to be delivered in Q1 2012 and will assist cloud service providers in standard definitions for delivery of ODCA requirements enabling delivery of solutions next year.

“As cloud adoption continues at a rapid pace, we welcome this alignment of ODCA’s customer definitions with our best-practices,” said Jim Reavis, co-founder and Executive Director of the CSA. “In addition, we believe certification is a crucial step in growing awareness and implementation of these best-practices among organizations. We are very pleased that ODCA members will be participating in our CCSK certification program, driving deeper understanding and adoption of these best-practices within their organizations.”

The organizations also announced the ODCA’s participation in CSA’s CCSK (Certification of Cloud Security Knowledge) program including ODCA representation on CSA’s certification board and ODCA member participation in certification testing. Collaboration on knowledge certification will help ensure enterprise requirements are aligned with CSA certification targets, raising the quality of the program. More information about ODCA usage models, CSA specifications, and organization collaboration can be received at the upcoming CSA Congress, November 16-17 in Orlando, Florida as well as at organization websites www.opendatacenteralliance.org and www.cloudsecurityalliance.org.

About The Open Data Center Alliance

The Open Data Center Alliance^SM is an independent IT consortium comprised of global IT leaders who have come together to provide a unified customer vision for long-term data center requirements. The Alliance is led by a twelve member steering committee which includes IT leaders BMW, Capgemini, China Life, China Unicom, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Lockheed Martin, Marriott International, Inc., National Australia Bank, Terremark, Disney Technology Solutions and Services, and UBS. Intel serves as technical advisor to the Alliance.

In support of its mission, the Alliance has delivered the first customer requirements for cloud computing documented in eight Open Data Center Usage Models which identify member prioritized requirements to resolve the most pressing challenges facing cloud adoption. Find out more at www.opendatacenteralliance.org.

About the Cloud Security Alliance

The Cloud Security Alliance is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to promote the use of best practices for providing security assurance within Cloud Computing, and to provide education on the uses of Cloud Computing to help secure all other forms of computing. The Cloud Security Alliance is led by a broad coalition of industry practitioners, corporations, associations and other key stakeholders. For further information, visit us at www.cloudsecurityalliance.org, and follow us on Twitter @cloudsa.

CONTACT:

For The Open Data Center Alliance
Chase Perrin, 425-405-0842
chase.perrin@nof9.com
or
ZAG Communications for the CSA
Zenobia Godschalk, 650-269-8315
zenobia@zagcommunications.com

KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  New York

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:   Technology  Data Management  Networks  Software  Security

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