CISCO, EMC, Microsoft Initiate SISA Alliance

Cisco, EMC Corp., and Microsoft Corp. and three other technology vendors have formed an alliance to create a comprehensive, secure information sharing architecture (SISA) capable of meeting government requirements for sharing sensitive information securely. The SISA initiative is expected to combine industry-leading applications, information infrastructure, and networking technologies in an architecture intended to protect the end-to-end sharing of information while also protecting customers’ existing information technology investments, according to a release made available by Microsoft early this morning.

Historically, technologies used to protect information have been installed and enforced system-by-system, creating islands of protected data. SISA would make it easier for government agencies to bridge those islands by setting up highly secure virtual networks for different authorized users and communities to access sensitive files stored in different information protection systems. Public health officials in a proposed SISA-enabled environment, for instance, could monitor confidential data on pandemics found in the databases maintained by various government agencies and private sector organizations and develop better coordinated responses.

Steve Cooper, former chief information officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and now CIO of the Red Cross, acknowledged the potential for SISA and applauded the move by Cisco, EMC, and Microsoft to come together in providing a multi-vendor architecture for sharing information across different government agencies. As initially envisioned, Cisco would bring its networking solutions to the alliance and provide network protection, highly secure virtualized network links, and data protection for sharing sensitive information across the network platform. EMC, with its networked storage systems, would provide information management and security software, and provide a flexible information infrastructure for storing, managing and protecting critical and sensitive data. And Microsoft would provide identity management tools, client and network operating systems, and a collaboration framework that helps keep content in the hands of authorized users.

The SISA Alliance also includes three other technology vendors that bring specialized capabilities to meet specific requirements. They include:

• Liquid Machines in Waltham, Mass., would provide solutions that enhance the SISA content-protection capabilities by extending the Microsoft Digital Rights Management technology.
• Swan Island Networks, Inc. in Portland, Ore., would provide designs for and operate sensitive information-sharing systems.
• Titus Labs in Ottawa, Canada, would provide information labeling and classification solutions that determine how content protection should be applied.

The SISA Alliance will be managed by Addx Corp., a principal provider of information and management sciences services. For more information on SISA and the Alliance, go to: http://www.SISAalliance.com.