Trump administration backs Oracle in Supreme Court battle against Google

Oracle | February 19, 2020

The Trump administration is siding with software company Oracle over Google in the pivotal Supreme Court battle that has pitted the U.S. government against some of the top titans of the tech industry. The Department of Justice (DOJ) in a filing on Wednesday urged the high court to rule in favor of Oracle in the case that Google once referred to as the "copyright case of the decade." The DOJ is arguing that Google flouted copyright law when the tech giant copied 11,500 lines of Oracle's code more than 10 years ago. The Trump administration's stance could have far-reaching consequences as the high court weighs the outer limits of copyright law in the digital age. Google v. Oracle centers on a question that has eluded Silicon Valley for over a decade: whether it is possible to copyright application-programming interfaces (APIs), computer code that allows software products to communicate with one another.

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Emerging Technology, Government Business

CCC announces $418M G2G contract with Colombia for GDLS-Canada LAVs

Globenewswire | June 30, 2023

CCC is pleased to announce its $418-million government to government (G2G) contract with the Colombian Ministry of National Defense for the supply of 55 Light Armoured Vehicles (LAVs) from General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (GDLS-Canada). As part of CCC’s G2G contract, GDLS-Canada will design, manufacture, test, deliver and provide in-service support for the 55 LAVs over a period of six years. Based in London, Ontario, GDLS-Canada is a global leader in light armoured vehicle platforms and sub-system integration. It employs approximately 1,750 people and supports 9,300 direct and indirect jobs through its supply chain. CCC’s G2G contract builds on the longstanding diplomatic and economic relationship between Canada and Colombia. In 2013, CCC signed a similar G2G contract worth $65 million with the Colombian Ministry of National Defense for LAVs manufactured by GDLS-Canada. CCC is Canada’s government to government (G2G) contracting agency. For over 75 years, CCC has been helping Canadian companies like GDLS-Canada establish successful commercial relationships with foreign governments. Every G2G contract signed with CCC has the legal effect of being signed in the name of the Government of Canada and comes with an assurance of contract performance and alignment with Canada’s integrity compliance expectations. To learn about how Canada’s G2G contracts support responsible defence trade, contact CCC. CCC takes pride in supporting defence trade by facilitating the sale of leading-edge Canadian technology and expertise to Colombia, a NATO global partner. – Bobby Kwon, President and CEO of the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC). This new G2G contract with CCC will help GDLS-Canada sustain domestic production and contribute to the fulfillment of Canadian public policy priorities, including the essential work of economic reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. – Jason Alejandro Monahan, Vice President and General Manager of General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (GDLS-C). ABOUT CANADIAN COMMERCIAL CORPORATION (CCC) CCC supports the growth of international trade by helping Canadian exporters gain access to foreign government procurement markets. We are Canada’s government to government contracting agency. We help build successful commercial relationships between Canadian businesses and governments around the world through our government to government contracting approach. We are also the Government of Canada’s designated contracting authority for U.S. DoD requirements from Canada.

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Emerging Technology, Infrastructure

ProcedureFlow and Carahsoft Partner to Bring Innovative Knowledge Management Software to the Public Sector

GlobeNewswire | August 28, 2023

ProcedureFlow, the next-generation knowledge management software, and Carahsoft Technology Corp., The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider®, today announced a partnership. Under the agreement, Carahsoft will serve as ProcedureFlow’s Master Government Aggregator®, making its platform available to the Public Sector through Carahsoft’s reseller partners and National Cooperative Purchasing Alliance (NCPA), OMNIA Partners, E&I Cooperative Services Contract and The Quilt contracts. “We are excited to work with Carahsoft and its extensive reseller partner network to expand our Public Sector customer base and increase our visibility in the market,” said Dan Keddy, Sr. Director Partner Sales and Channel Management at ProcedureFlow. “The improved process visual flows that ProcedureFlow’s knowledge management software provides will allow Public Sector customers to simplify their processes and promote efficiency within their organizations.” ProcedureFlow is a secure, cloud-based environment uniquely designed for the modern workplace that eliminates the need for traditional training methods, such as lengthy manuals or text-heavy documentation, and creates a single source of truth for all organizational information. By centralizing people, processes and technology, ProcedureFlow facilitates an integrated approach for identifying, capturing, evaluating, retrieving and sharing all information and processes in a visual manner, reducing barriers caused by traditional training methods. ProcedureFlow’s next-generation procedural knowledge management software simplifies the ways employees navigate processes and increase employee proficiency, while also providing employers insight into employee performance and quality adherence. Improved process visual flows give organizations the ability to create, collaborate, share and track procedures for easier end-to-end management and offer valuable insights that support the optimization of operational efficiency. “We are excited to add ProcedureFlow’s solutions to our portfolio and begin offering our customers access to its next-generation knowledge management software,” said Zak Kennedy, Contact Center Solutions Leader at Carahsoft. “Government and Public Sector agencies are tasked with conveying massive amounts of information to their employees about a diverse array of topics on a daily basis. We look forward to collaborating with ProcedureFlow and our reseller partners to enable our Public Sector customers to transform their processes, improve efficiency and enhance public services they provide.” The Technology Training portfolio at Carahsoft offers industry-leading solutions that enable Public Sector customers to achieve digital transformation and utilize technology more efficiently. Carahsoft offers training programs and services that help the Public Sector stay current with IT trends and certifications to progress their agency’s mission. Learn more about Carahsoft’s Training Technology Solutions here. About Carahsoft Carahsoft Technology Corp. is The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider®, supporting Public Sector organizations across Federal, State and Local Government agencies and Education and Healthcare markets. As the Master Government Aggregator® for our vendor partners, we deliver solutions for Technology Training, Customer Experience, Cybersecurity, MultiCloud, DevSecOps, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Open Source and more. Working with resellers, systems integrators and consultants, our sales and marketing teams provide industry leading IT products, services and training through hundreds of contract vehicles. Visit us at www.carahsoft.com. About ProcedureFlow A Knowledge Management software uniquely designed for the modern workplace. ProcedureFlow simplifies the way employees navigate organizational processes to accelerate proficiency. Our improved process flows allow you to create, organize, update, share, and track procedures for easier end-to-end management. ProcedureFlow digitizes your operations to create a single source of truth for company processes. This allows employees to access the information they need in a highly consumable, visual, and easily updatable format. With ProcedureFlow, companies can create a high performing culture by improving training and proficiency and boosting employee confidence from day one.

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Emerging Technology, Cybersecurity

Axiad Launches New Passwordless Authentication Package for Government, Critical Infrastructure and Defense Industrial Base

PR Newswire | August 18, 2023

Axiad, a leading provider of organization-wide passwordless orchestration, today announced a new Unified Credential Management System (UCMS) package calledPasswordless for Air Gapped and Critical Environmentsto meet the phishing-resistant requirements of The White House Executive Order (EO) 14028. This package brings passwordless authentication and end user self-service capabilities to air gapped and critical infrastructure environments that integrate Microsoft Security solutions. Overall, the package helps government agencies as well as critical infrastructure and defense industrial base (DIB) organizations maximize security and end-user acceptance and minimize security overhead. In the United States, critical infrastructure systems continue to be a top target for cybercriminals. In fact,Microsoft reportedthat critical infrastructure cyberattacks doubled in 2022 from 20% to 40% of nation-state-sponsored attacks. Because of this, the U.S. government, via EO 14028 on improving the nation's cybersecurity, has mandated security measures, including strong passwordless multi-factor authentication (MFA), for government agencies and is strongly recommending the use of this technology for critical infrastructure. In response to this growing need, Axiad's Passwordless for Air Gapped and Critical Environments provides a seamless way for organizations to integrate government-grade, phishing-resistant passwordless authentication as well as key functional and operational support into on-premises air gapped environments. The new package provides full interoperation with a range of Microsoft products – including Microsoft Active Directory Federation Services and Microsoft Certificate Authority – to ensure authentication is highly secure and consistent and customers get maximum value out of their existing environments. Additionally, it provides credential management and self-service credential enrollment and account recovery (CEAR), which are critical capabilities due to the high costs or the complete lack of on-site IT support in air gapped environments. "Organizations with air gapped and critical infrastructure environments need passwordless authentication and a range of physical and platform authenticators to help prevent cyber-attacks," said Jerome Becquart, chief operating officer at Axiad. "With this new package, Axiad is the first company to provide all these elements plus the critical missing ingredient – self-service authentication management, including enrollment and account recovery – and bring them to the on-premises Microsoft ecosystem." Axiad's Passwordless for Air Gapped and Critical Environments provides the following unique capabilities: Strong Authentication:The package provides government-grade FIPS 140 validated passwordless authentication with the flexibility needed to accommodate the full range of needs of employees, contractors, vendors and suppliers. For example, it offers a range of passwordless options, including both physical (YubiKeys, smart cards, PIV cards, USB keys, etc.) and platform (virtual smart cards). Powerful Self-Service Capabilities:Axiad AirLock, which provides help desk automation by eliminating temporary passwords, provides self-service credential enrollment, and Axiad MyCircle provides self-service account recovery within a trusted circle of colleagues rather than waiting for the help desk to respond – both of which help to increase operational efficiencies for frontline workers and reduce IT costs. Ready Implementation:The package's architecture is made to operate in air gapped environments and to seamlessly interoperate with existing authentication and infrastructure investments without requiring upgrades. This package fully leverages and extends the life of Microsoft authentication (e.g., Microsoft Active Directory) and infrastructure (e.g., Microsoft Windows Server) investments. "Axiad's integration with Microsoft empowers critical infrastructure, government and defense industrial base to easily upgrade their existing Microsoft on-premises infrastructure to become passwordless," said Ehud Itshaki, principal product manager at Microsoft. "With phishing-resistant, passwordless authentication, they can enhance their security posture and comply with the recent EO mandating phishing-resistant MFA – all while getting more out of their existing Microsoft authentication and infrastructure investments." About Axiad Axiad delivers organization-wide passwordless orchestration to secure people, machines, and interactions for enterprise and public sector organizations that must optimize their cybersecurity posture while navigating underlying IT complexity. The company's flagship product, Axiad Cloud, is a comprehensive, secure and integrated authentication platform that allows customers to move to a passwordless future without the friction and risk of fragmented solutions. Axiad supports the widest range of credentials in the industry including FIDO, mobile MFA, Windows Hello for Business, YubiKeys, smart cards, TPM and biometrics, and is trusted by public sector organizations and Fortune 500 companies across aerospace & defense, financial services, insurance, healthcare, oil & energy and more. For more information visitaxiad.comand follow us onTwitterandLinkedIn.

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Emerging Technology, Infrastructure

nZero Joins Green Proving Ground Program as U.S. General Services Administration Integrates Carbon Tracking Software for the First Time

PR Newswire | July 13, 2023

Carbon management and accounting platform nZero will be tracking real-time 24/7 carbon-free electricity under the U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA) Green Proving Ground (GPG) program as part of the Federal Government's quest to decarbonize federal buildings. The government agency recently announced that, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, it will invest $30 million from the Inflation Reduction Act to increase the sustainability of federal buildings by testing novel technologies through the GPG program. This marks the first year GSA is integrating carbon tracking software. nZero will be supporting the Biden-Harris Administration's larger initiative to advance clean energy tech offerings and establish net-zero federal buildings. "GSA serves as a standard for federal building development across the country, and our carbon management and emissions tracking will complement the agency's ongoing work toward achieving net-zero federal buildings," said Josh Griffin, Chief Policy Officer and Co-Founder at nZero. "The opportunity to work with GSA and the GPG program as one of the first carbon accounting software to be evaluated under this program is an honor. We look forward to working toward a common goal of decarbonizing the built world through more transparent and accurate greenhouse gas accounting." The GPG program works to advance GSA's goals of achieving net-zero emissions in federal buildings and creating clean energy jobs by evaluating American-made, emerging and sustainable technologies to help increase the deployment of federal electric vehicle supply equipment, protect air quality, reduce climate pollution, and enhance building performance. The GPG program leverages GSA's real estate portfolio to assess innovative building technologies in real-world settings. "nZero is playing an important role in the Green Proving Ground program, as the Federal Government drives further innovation and clean energy initiatives across the country," said Robin Carnahan, Administrator of GSA. "In furtherance of the Federal Government's mandate to track these emissions, nZero's participation in the program will help GSA evaluate accurate and efficient carbon accounting as we push toward our ongoing goal of net-zero federal buildings." With the additional funds from the Inflation Reduction Act, GSA is able to increase its evaluation and investment in technologies that will benefit its real estate portfolio. nZero's role as a selected technology pertains to greenhouse gas accounting, one of the GPG program's seven technology areas of focus. The seven areas include: Greenhouse Gas Accounting, Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment, Germicidal Ultraviolet, Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings, High-Performance, Onsite Renewables, and Window Retrofit. About nZero nZero is a real-time carbon accounting and management platform that collects, analyzes and produces emissions and insights data to help NGOs, government agencies and organizations accelerate their journey to net zero. nZero utilizes a proprietary carbon data model to capture and automate all emission points from an organizations' operational footprint at the highest granularity possible and provides 24/7 analysis of scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. Unlike other offerings that rely on third-party data and opaque averages, nZero's accurate, first-party, contextual data helps clients understand changes hour-by-hour, access metrics to reach climate goals and reduce operational and capital costs. nZero's data is audit-ready and compliant with all reporting criteria, mitigating risk and ensuring that organizations are prepared for new rules, regulations, and financial reporting demands. nZero recognition includes the 2022 "Leader in Sustainability" Award from the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN), the 2022 Sustainability Product of the Year Award from Business Intelligence Group, a TIME Magazine Best Inventions of 2022 recipient, as well as an honorable mention on Fast Company's 2022 World Changing Ideas List. About GSA GSA provides centralized procurement and shared services for the Federal Government, managing a nationwide real estate portfolio of nearly 370 million rentable square feet, overseeing approximately $75 billion in annual contracts, and delivering technology services that serve millions of people across dozens of federal agencies. GSA's mission is to deliver the best customer experience and value in real estate, acquisition, and technology services to the government and the American people.

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