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Sun Begins Common Criteria Testing for Solaris 10 and Trusted Extensions

Server and operating system maker Sun Microsystems this week said that it has begun the validation and testing processes that will allow it to eventually get its Solaris 10 operating systems as well as the Trusted Solaris Extensions to that operating system certified at the EAL4+ level of the internationally recognized Common Criteria security specification.

The Common Criteria certification is the result of the merging a few years ago of security standards from North American and European governments, and it is used to separate products that have demonstrated their security, as audited by expert third parties, from those products that cannot or have not attained the certification. The EAL part is short for Evaluation Assurance Level, and the current high water mark is EAL 4 with extras (that's the plus part).

According to Mark Thacker, product line manager for Solaris security at Sun, the stock Solaris 10 operating system will be evaluated against the Controlled Access Protection Profile (CAPP) as well as the Role-Based Access Control Protection Profile (RBACPP) at Evaluation Assurance Level 4, which is the highest level. (EAL 5 is not yet a recognized security level, but it very well could turn out to be soon, perhaps as a level with all of the profiles rolled in and we can stop with this plus nonsense.) By doing more than one profile you get to put a plus on there, so this would technically be EAL 4+. Sun has chosen CGI Information Systems to do the testing on Solaris 10; this well-known Canadian services company also did the Common Criteria testing for Solaris 9. Thacker says that unlike many companies that do Common Criteria testing, Sun plans to test and certify Solaris 10 (the 03/05 release, to be specific) on a wide variety of Sparc (both UltraSparc-III and UltraSparc-IV) and its own Opteron X64 servers as well as third party X86/X64 servers.

Sun is still working on the Trusted Solaris Extensions, which are add-ons to the standard Solaris 10 that give it extra, multi-level security features that some government agencies and financial institutions insist upon having. In years gone by, Sun created a special version of Solaris 8 called Trusted Solaris with these features, and it was essentially a fork off the Solaris tree. This is not a good idea when it comes to making operating systems, which is why we never saw Trusted Solaris 9. With Solaris 10, rather than make a whole different version of Solaris, Sun decided to make security extensions that layer onto the then-current Solaris release. These Trusted Solaris Extensions were in mid-to-late 2005, but according to Thacker, the extensions are going into early evaluation now and are expected to go into a formal beta program in late 2005 or early 2006 and should be delivered in the second quarter of 2006. When Sun finally does deliver the Trusted Solaris Extensions, it will perform the Common Criteria tests on the combination of Solaris 10 and the extensions, adding the Labeled Security Protection Profile (LSPP). Trusted Solaris 8 had the triple play of the CAPP, RBACPP, and LSPP profiles tested, albeit at a lower EAL level. The point is that Solaris 10 plus the extensions will be certified on the same profiles and at an even higher security level.

SCO, MySQL Partner for Database Support on OpenServer 6

Unix operating supplier the SCO Group and open source database software provider MySQL to jointly develop, certify, and support a version of the forthcoming MySQL 5.0 database, which finally has its first release candidate out after being in beta testing for 20 months, on the new OpenServer 6 Unix variant from SCO. The two companies plan to do joint sales, marketing, and training on MySQL 5.0 for OpenServer 6, and SCO said it would ship a trial subscription to the MySQL Network enterprise support service with each copy of OpenServer 6.

Lakeview Technology Validates H.A. Clusters and EchoStream FS on AIX, SCO OpenServer 6, and Linux

High availability software maker Lakeview Technology has validated its H.A. Clusters clustering and EchoStream FS data replication software on IBM's latest pSeries machines running Big Blue's AIX Unix variant as well as Linux implementations from Red Hat and Novell. The two high availability software products also run on Linux partitions on IBM's iSeries servers (which are based on IBM's Power processors, like the pSeries) as well as on the company's xSeries X86 and X64 servers, which run Linux as well. It can even run on Linux partitions within IBM's zSeries mainframes, and on AIX partitions on the iSeries boxes. Back in June, H.A. Clusters and EchoStream FS were certified to run on the SCO Group's OpenServer 6 implementation of Unix.

SGI Gets $100 Million Credit Line as It Plans Turnaround

Supercomputer maker Silicon Graphics is trying to turn itself around after a difficult transition from its MIPS-IRIX server business to an Itanium-Linux business, and said last week that it had secured credit lines from Wells Fargo Foothill and Ableco Finance for a total of $100 million to help it get through the rough patches. The two-year credit facility consists of a $50 million revolving line of credit and a term loan of $50 million. SGI's had an existing credit line of $50 million, but it required $20 million cash collateral. The fact that the new credit facility is twice the size with no collateral is an indication that the bankers are convinced that SGI can get its financial house in order and tap into the demand for Linux supercomputers.

SGI also announced that a former company executive, Brian Samuels, who also had stints with Tandem Computers and Digital Equipment (now both part of Hewlett-Packard), has been named senior vice president of global sales, service, and marketing at the company. Samuels will take over responsibility for all sales channels except those to the U.S. government, which will continue to be managed through the SGI Federal unit, which has its own president, Anthony Robbins. Samuels will report to SGI's chairman and CEO, Bob Bishop.

SSA Global Renames Technology Architecture to Open Architecture with Version 5.1

In yet another example of name-changing, SSA Global last week unveiled a new release of its strategic Java-based middleware product that's designed to provide a standardized way for its customers to access and build upon their core ERP applications including ERP LX (the OS/400-based ERP products that SSA owns, including BPCS, PRMS, PRISM, and Infinium) as well as ERP LN (the Baan product line). The middleware, which was introduced as Technology Architecture 5.0 earlier this year, has been renamed Open Architecture, and released at version 5.1. SSA Open Architecture 5.1 features new unified user management and single sign-on capabilities, in addition to other administrative enhancements, the company says. SSA has also delivered a new Eclipse-based component called SSA Studio, which is used for modeling and customizations, in addition to enhancements to the SSA Portal Studio and SSA Collaboration Services components. SSA says its Open Architecture is a key element of its strategy to enable customers to build service-orientated architectures. "By delivering an open, standards-based technology platform, we are helping customers avoid the long-term costs of proprietary technology platforms and instead cost-effectively capitalize on the business advantages of a service-oriented architecture," says Cory Eaves, the company's chief technology officer. SSA made the announcement last week from its Global Client Forum in Orlando, Fla.

IBS Renames ERP Suite, Begins Roll-Out of New Version

In more name-changing news, Swedish OS/400 software developer International Business Systems last week re-christened its ERP software suite with the introduction of IBS Enterprise 6.0. In addition to the new name, the new release of supply-chain focused ERP software, which was formerly called ASW, features a number of enhancements, including new workflow routines for the CRM module, new planning and forecasting modules, a new integration tool for connecting IBS Enterprise processes with external systems, new business intelligence capabilities, and a new customizable Web-based user interface that spans the entire product suite. The new version will start to roll out during the fourth quarter of 2005, with worldwide availability complete by mid-2006, the company says. The product suite will initially be offered in an RPG version for i5/OS, and will be followed by Java versions later in 2006 for Windows, Linux, and Unix operating systems. If IBS' expansion from RPG and OS/400 to Java and distributed systems is a shock to you, go back and read "IBS to Port OS/400 Apps to Unix, Windows, and Linux" from a May issue of The Four Hundred.

IDC Says U.S. Companies Will Double Up on Offshoring by 2009

If you think that offshoring is just a passing fad, the analysts at IDC and Gartner sure do disagree with you.

According to a report (that cost a stunning $8,000, mind you) from IDC, companies in the United States are expected to double their spending on offshored IT services contracts between 2004 and 2009, reaching $14.7 billion. That's a compound annual growth rate of 14.4 percent. Financial services companies are expected to account for 28.9 percent of the services offshoring spending by U.S.-based companies, with discrete manufacturers accounting for 17 percent. Retail and communications companies are also expected to be big spenders for offshoring of services. These projections are based on a survey that IDC did with 1,000 companies in the States.

Gartner also released its own offshoring report last week, and said that it expects that total worldwide offshoring from the developed economies in North America, Western Europe, and Japan will reach a combined $50 billion by 2007. Gartner says that India is the current dominant force in the offshoring business, with China coming in a distant second. That said, Gartner is recommending that customers give other offshoring locations a second thought, such as Latin America, Brazil, Mexico, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Russia. Language requirements are also driving nearshore IT services projects, says Gartner, and with Ireland, Canada, Mexico, and parts of Africa expected to see growth.