HP said it is seeking stringent security
certifications to make its Adaptive Enterprise platform more appealing
to the U.S. government and its contractors.
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based computer and printer maker said it is in
the progress of pursuing Common Criteria certifications from the
National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP) for its HP OpenView
Operations for UNIX 8.1 and its HP OpenView Network Node Manager version
7.5. OpenView is a key piece to the company’s Adaptive Enterprise
strategy, a virtualization and provisioning architecture for data
centers and large-scale networks.
Nineteen countries recognize Common Criteria certifications, and the
Department of Defense requires its agencies to purchase NIAP-certified
information technology products. Currently, federal civilian agencies
and commercial users are not required to use NIAP-certified products, but
many who are thinking of working with the government are verifying their
products.
“Government agencies are transforming the way they integrate, access
and share information,” Jim Ganthier, worldwide director of defense,
intelligence and security solutions at HP, said in a statement. “As the
federal government increases its use of mobility solutions that are
securely integrated, the importance of NIAP Common Criteria
certification will continue to increase.”
HP said it is investing millions of dollars in the certification and
has plans for near-term investments to do the same for other HP OpenView
software.
The evaluation levels are ordered hierarchically in increments
beginning from EAL1 to EAL7, with each level requiring a more advanced
and intense means of testing. To date, EAL4 is the highest level of
certification awarded to any security product in the market.
Evaluations from EAL5 to EAL7 exist but have not yet been recognized by
all Common Criteria members.
Already, HP has certified many of its software products and operating
systems. The company’s HP-UX 11i (release 11.11) operating system has a
EAL 4 Controlled Access Protection Profile (CAPP) cert. The HP Tru64
UNIX V5.1A operating system is cleared as an EAL 1 product.
HP has certified its Xeon-based ProLiant, Itanium-based
Integrity and its HP carrier-grade servers running Linux, including Red
Hat Enterprise 3 update 3 and Novell’s SuSE Linux 8 SP3 a the EAL 3+
level.
Both OpenView products are slated for EAL 2 certification, HP said.
In a separate announcement, HP said it secured a five-year
contract to supply the U.S. Department of the Air Force with
non-ruggedized desktop PCs, notebooks and servers.
The agreement, which falls under HP’s General Services Administration
schedule, also covers additional storage for existing storage area
networks (SAN), associated peripherals, replacement parts, and
associated services and accessories.
The Air Force contract is one of a series of recent customer wins for
HP’s Public Sector business, the company said. HP has similar
contracts with the United States Postal Service, the U.S. Defense
Logistics Agency and the U.S. Navy.
