U.S. military and CIA adopting the latest trends in big data

Amazon launches CIA's secret cloud
Amazon won the bid to develop the CIA's massive cloud project in early 2013. This decision prompted protest from IBM and resulted in a months-long legal battle. IBM was eventually defeated in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

IBM's struggle for the contract reflects both the scope of the CIA's data management needs and potential industry ripple effects that are caused when one company secures a massive government contract. CIA Chief Information Officer Douglas Wolfe referred to the deal as "one of the most important technology procurements in recent history," according to The Atlantic.

The Central Intelligence Agency is confident that the Amazon-built cloud will be as secure or more secure than previous storage infrastructures. Cloud storage boasts a security advantage over traditional hardware by hosting fewer access points. Data will be secured across the cloud by assigning information to unique admin permissions. The system will likely support remote access as well to serve the needs of the intelligence community. This accessibility may be facilitated through the use of remote control servers but details about the specifics are being kept secret by Amazon.

Perle's wide range of 1 to 48 port Perle Console Servers provide data center managers and network administrators with secure remote management of any device with a serial console port. Plus, they are the only truly fault tolerant Console Servers on the market with the advanced security functionality needed to easily perform secure remote data center management and out-of-band management of IT assets from anywhere in the world.