29 October 2014 - Singapore reaffirmed its commitment to the cloud and takes a further step on its Smart Nation journey by announcing that it is enhancing its Cloud Service Provider Registry (CSP Registry) with near-real-time analytics.
Singapore, 29 October 2014 | For Immediate Release
Enhancements to Cloud Service Provider Registry and Multi-Tier Cloud Security Standard
Singapore reaffirmed its commitment to the cloud and takes a further step on its Smart Nation journey by announcing that it is enhancing its Cloud Service Provider Registry (CSP Registry) with near-real-time analytics.
This was announced at CloudAsia 2014 and the additions will give potential cloud consumers more information on performance and availability of a CSP on top of current existing static listings via the Registry. This will help enterprises when making a choice on which CSP they would wish to utilize.
The CSP Registry was conceived to engender trust through transparency for the benefit of cloud adopters by making available online information about CSPs. This was facilitated by services such as a self-disclosure form and information on a CSP's Multi-Tier Cloud Security Singapore Standard (MTCS SS) certification.
The near real-time analytics enhancement is enabled with a signing of a Memorandum of Intent with Compuware to access information on CSPs' availability and performance in near real-time. Compuware will provide free use of software tools and expertise for the performance and availability monitoring of CSPs via the Registry. The MOI was signed by IDA's Assistant Chief Executive Khoong Hock Yun and Compuware's Regional Director, ASEAN, Koh Eng Kiong.
"The enhancement to our Cloud Service Provider Registry will better enable potential cloud adopters to understand what each provider is offering with near-real time tools. These will encourage greater trust and adoption of the cloud. Alongside this is an encouraging takeup of the Multi-Tier Cloud Security standard for clarity around CSPs security service levels. All of this will help in Singapore's drive to be a Smart Nation," said IDA Assistant Chief Executive Khoong Hock Yun.
The MTCS SS was launched last year by IDA, together with Singapore Standards Council, under the aegis of SPRING Singapore. It provides specifications for CSPs to give clarity around their security service levels for customer understanding, while also increasing the level of accountability and transparency from them. Local CSPs which are keen to adopt the MTCS SS can tap on SPRING's Capability Development Grant based on their eligibility. This covers up to 70% of qualifying project costs. For further information on CDG please refer to: http://bit.ly/1Dogov6.
IDA also worked together with the Singapore Accreditation Council, under the aegis of SPRING, to develop an accreditation programme for MTCS certification. "The new accreditation programme provides a stringent set of criteria to ensure that certification bodies conduct good certification practices in accordance with international best practices. CSPs which are certified against the MTCS SS by accredited certification bodies will provide greater assurance on cloud security to cloud users," said Mr Steven Tan, SPRING's Group Director (Quality & Standards).
While adopting the MTCS is voluntary, certification by a Certification Body will be a requirement for CSPs participating in future public cloud service bulk tenders from the Government. IDA has received 13 industry proposals for its next tender which is currently under evaluation.
As part of IDA's roundup on the state of the cloud's ecosystem in Singapore, Mr Khoong also shared that the Technology Evaluation Programme has shown promising results. Launched in 2011, more than 100 requests have been submitted in areas such as scalable media platforms, video analytics and video content search using images. Evaluation licenses arising from the requests have resulted in sixteen percent going on to commercial licensing.
IDA's Software-as-a-Service Enablement Programme also ended recently in March. This programme helped enable companies to make their software available in the form of a Software-as-a-Service. Since its launch, IDA has funded a total of 20 SaaS enablement projects across industry verticals such as the construction, healthcare and manufacturing sectors.
CloudAsia is co-organised by the IDA and co-located with Cloud Expo Asia & Data Centre World for the second year.
ISSUED BY THE INFOCOMM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE
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About Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
The mission of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is to develop information technology and telecommunications within Singapore with a view to serve citizens of all ages and companies of all sizes. IDA does this by actively supporting the growth of innovative technology companies and start-ups in Singapore, working with leading global IT companies as well as developing excellent information technology and telecommunications infrastructure, policies and capabilities for Singapore. For more news and information, visit www.ida.gov.sg.
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