29 Oct 14. GEOCORE, a consortium of leading academic and industry partners, led by Envitia, has been awarded a major new follow-on contract by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), following two successful years of delivering applied research to support Ministry of Defence (MOD) policy and capability. The follow-on contract will enable the GEOCORE consortium to build on the tasks already undertaken for Dstl’s Advanced Geospatial Information and Intelligence Services (AGIS) research project. The research will be exploitable over the next 5-10 years and will identify opportunities for the rapid development and insertion of geospatial technology. The work carried out by GEOCORE on the AGIS project involves delivering applied research that underpins and improves GEOINT capability and policy for the UK MOD, and across Government. This will support the definition of requirements for future equipment programmes, de-risking their use of GEOINT technology, and support related MOD policy. The AGIS contract was initially awarded to GEOCORE in November 2011. Thanks to the latest follow-on contract, the work will continue until March 2016. The GEOCORE consortium is led by Envitia, and includes Helyx SIS Ltd, the University of Nottingham, University College London (UCL) and QinetiQ.
28 Oct 14. Thales unveils unique counter-piracy service solution. At Euronaval 2014, Thales unveiled PASTOR, a unique service solution to protect vessels against piracy. Primarily designed for shipping companies, this high-level services solution is based on a combination of early warning, prevention and deterrence systems. Piracy today has serious human and economic consequences and can damage the economies and stability of the countries concerned. The PASTOR solution alerts shipping companies to piracy threats ahead of time, helping them avoid the additional costs of route changes, late deliveries, thefts of cargo, large onboard vessel protection teams and higher insurance premiums. The PASTOR service solution is designed around a set of proven products and systems to protect vessels, cargoes and crews quickly and effectively during the day and at night. It is available as turnkey solution and is fully modular and scalable to meet evolving needs. PASTOR comprises detection (radar) and identification (gyrostabilised optronic system) functions to provide the vessel’s security officer or onboard protection team with early warning of any potential piracy threat. It includes a powerful searchlight to act as a deterrent and ward off attackers. The solution includes intuitive data management software which automatically issues alerts and provides the relevant authorities with clear and simple information about an attack. An automated digital radio system enables vessels in the vicinity to identify each other.
27 Oct 14. HP has put its stamp on the world of OpenStack clouds, with its Helion OpenStack community edition code general availability. Helion OpenStack starts with a community edition available now, which the company says is suitable for proof-of-concept and pilot deployments, based on the Icehouse release. The company’s cloud products and services SVP Bill Hilf said in the launch Webcast (it’s here with registration if you have more than an hour spare and don’t mind executives endlessly congratulating each other) says HP will follow the OpenStack trunk line release schedule in future versions. (Source: Open Source Information Report/The Register)
27 Oct 14. Novetta Solutions, LLC released multiple reports, the main one being titled “Operation SMN: Axiom Threat Actor Group Report”. This report details the characteristics of a threat actor group, dubbed Axiom by the coalition, which Novetta believes acts on behalf of a Chinese government intelligence apparatus. The release of these reports follows months of cooperation by the cyber security coalition. Led by Novetta and including security industry leaders Bit9, Cisco, FireEye, F-Secu