FISMA News

Lumeta Solution Eases U.S. Federal Agencies' Transition to Networx Program

(Nov 13, 2007)-- Lumeta, provider of network assurance solutions for enterprises and government agencies, today announced the company has IPsonar specialists available for government agencies transitioning to the Networx Program. Networx is the largest communications services contract in the world, designed to provide guidelines for the delivery of advanced networking services to all government agencies. The new plan moves the federal government toward a managed services IT model where some network operations and network security responsibilities are outsourced to Managed Service Providers. The GSA recommends that agencies complete the majority of decisions for transitioning services no later than March 2008.

The transition from FTS2001, the previous government-wide telecommunications and networking contract, to Networx promises to be one of the largest services transitions ever undertaken by the federal government. Networx requires agencies to adhere to FISMA and NIST standards and establishes the requirements for security due diligence for both federal agencies and third-party service providers. As a result, government agencies will have to perform this due diligence as a precursor to outlining their requirements to third-party service providers.

"Agencies face a fundamental paradox: support major network transitions like Networx while maintaining availability, security, and compliance. By performing multi-protocol discovery, IPsonar ensures that all devices and hosts are under management, allowing the service provider to ensure that the entire infrastructure is secure and that Networx transition plans will not pose unexpected risks to availability," said Lumeta's Executive Vice President of Technology and Operations, Michael Markulec. "By automating key processes of the Network Assurance lifecycle, IPsonar helps to drive risk out of migration projects and ensure the deployment of a secure network."

Lumeta's IPsonar creates an accurate baseline of network topology, address space, leaks and device fingerprints. This assists both government agencies and service providers by providing a complete understanding of all devices, both managed and unmanaged, connected to the network so decisions can be made about which assets should be replaced or eliminated and which should be upgraded. By streamlining the network, government agencies ensure that next generation performance requirements are met, existing investments are leveraged wherever possible and legacy assets are effectively eliminated to reduce network risk and cost.

This baseline also provides a critical foundation for establishing a successful outsourced network management relationship, since it provides both the client and the service provider with an accurate picture of all devices currently connected to the network. IPsonar's comprehensive multi-protocol automated discovery capabilities allow outsourcers to accurately assess a client's network for management purposes. Rather than spending hundreds of man-hours determining what they are going to manage and how they should charge clients, IPsonar enables outsourcers to complete this process in days or a few weeks. In addition to enabling providers to potentially save hundreds of thousands of dollars by re-deploying staff on more profitable activities and eliminating costly contractual penalties for overcharging clients, the automation of the inventory cycle results in much greater customer satisfaction.

Regularly scheduled IPsonar scans as part of a managed service deliverable allows agencies to understand the impact of change to the infrastructure on security policy compliance, thus avoiding unwanted audit surprises. IPsonar allows service providers to isolate configuration problems and validate access control lists, prioritizing trouble spots so that issues are resolved before audits occur.

Share or bookmarklet this web page at: