Rackspace Announces FedRAMP Authorized Platform on Amazon Web Services

SAN ANTONIO – Rackspace extends its FedRAMP authorization to include Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) within Rackspace Government Cloud (RGC), a managed security and compliance platform, enabling state-of-the-art private, public and hybrid cloud solutions for the government ecosystem.

Rackspace Government Cloud was the first Joint Authorization Board (JAB) authorized platform as a service originally built on VMware. This highly anticipated update adds full support for AWS services as a part of the RGC platform. Using RGC as its foundation, the Rackspace Inheritable Security Controls (RISC) program, powered by Xacta, is a first-of-its-kind cyber risk management solution that leverages the power of inheritance, significantly shortening the time and reducing the cost required to achieve FedRAMP Authorization to Operate (ATO) for system integrators (SIs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) selling software as a service to the federal government.

Rackspace Inheritable Security Controls is a three-step acceleration program, which includes Workshop, Gap Assessment and Managed Service for FedRAMP authorization, a requirement to sell cloud services to the federal government. Leveraging RISC, Rackspace helps customers quickly and efficiently achieve their own FedRAMP authorizations.

“RISC powers federal ATOs for application owners in a fraction of the time, with cost savings of up to 70%,” said Rick Rosenberg, vice president and general manager of Rackspace Government Solutions. “Today, a majority of government computing systems need to meet rigorous security and compliance requirements, which is time-consuming and costly. With FedRAMP compliance, agencies can utilize a streamlined process when leveraging cloud applications to meet their unique business objectives – now Rackspace customers can do the same when delivering cloud solutions in support of them.”

Rackspace partnered with advisory firm Quzara, an ATO on AWS partner and leader in FedRAMP compliance, to accelerate delivery of AWS-specific security controls.

“The Rackspace team showcased their deep technical knowledge of AWS, which combined with our expertise on security and compliance, enabled us to achieve in months what typically takes years,” Saif Rahman, founder of Quzara.

Rackspace remains a leader in the FedRAMP authorization enablement space, powering 13 FedRAMP ATOs built on its managed service, and provides 24x7x365 hybrid-cloud management, operational support and security services as a packaged, on-demand, audited and pay-as-you-go service.

Contacts:
Mikala Ferguson
Rackspace
mikala.ferguson@rackspace.com
210-550-6452