Responding to increasing demand for digital infrastructure powered by renewable energy, QTS Realty Trust (NYSE: QTS), a leading provider of hybrid colocation and mega scale data center solutions, today announced four additional data centers (QTS Hillsboro, QTS Fort Worth, QTS Eemshaven, Netherlands and QTS Richmond) are now powered by renewable energy.

The four locations join QTS data centers in Irving, TX, Chicago, IL, Piscataway, NJ and Groningen, Netherlands currently powered by renewable energy and support the Company's commitment to procure 100% of the power required for all of its data centers from renewable sources by 2025.

Approximately 36% of QTS' portfolio wide data center power requirements are now sourced from renewable energy with a visible path toward growing that percentage in 2021.

QTS' renewable power procurement strategy prioritizes sourcing power through innovative agreements that support the development of net new renewable energy in the markets where it does business. Through a variety of solar and wind purchasing agreements, QTS announced that its data centers in Hillsboro, OR, Fort Worth, TX and Eemshaven, Netherlands are now powered by renewable power.

The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket's first core stage is expected to arrive at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida where its integration with the rest of the vehicle and the Orion spacecraft will be conducted before the launch of the Artemis I lunar mission.

The core stage recently completed the Green Run series of design and system tests at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, NASA said Saturday.

Four Aerojet Rocketdyne-built RS-25 engines are fitted to the SLS core stage to help propel the rocket. The core stage, which measures 212 feet tall and 27.6 feet in diameter, was developed by prime contractor Boeing.

At Stennis, a team made up of representatives from NASA, Boeing, Aerojet Rocketdyne and Syncom Space Services, which led facility maintenance and operations at the center and the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, conducted a series of eight Green Run tests.

The core stage will help power the SLS rocket at launch as part of the Artemis program, through which NASA will send humans to the lunar surface. The initiative will also help the space agency prepare for eventual journeys to Mars.

The Department of Commerce’s (DOC) office of inspector general has issued a management alert stating that the Business Applications Solution (BAS) program’s focus on technology may miss business process-related risks.

The BAS program intends to modernize the department’s financial applications and processes through the procurement of cloud-based, commercial off-the-shelf software, according to the OIG alert dated April 19.

The OIG found that the program lacks a business process reengineering plan and the ongoing change efforts do not adhere to best practices, such as documenting existing processes for financial management and using a proven methodology for process improvement.

“These conditions present risk that financial management processes may not be adequately supported by the new BAS system, which could ultimately lead to schedule delays and cost increases,” Frederick Meny, assistant inspector general for audit and evaluation, wrote in the alert. 

“This approach may also miss an opportunity to fundamentally improve how the Department conducts its financial business.”

The OIG said it is not asking for a formal response since department officials were already notified prior to the release of the alert and that it will include the actions taken in response to the issues raised in an “audit report to be issued at a later date.”

In April 2020, the department awarded a potential $341 million contract to Accenture Federal Services (AFS) to support the BAS program by providing full system development lifecycle services to help consolidate finance and other business applications into a single suite of systems. 

The contract also includes the acquisition of hosting and licensing services for three new BAS software apps: Oracle Electronic Business Suite for financial management, Sunflower for property management and Procurement Request Information System Management for acquisition management, according to the alert.

John Sherman, acting chief information officer of the Department of Defense (DOD), said DOD plans to issue a strategy for zero trust architecture in 2021 as part of efforts to enhance the cybersecurity of its networks, FedScoop reported Friday.

“I think we are at one of these inflection points here,” Sherman said Thursday during the Billington CyberSecurity Defense Summit. “Our current approaches are not going to take us into the future here.”

Such a strategy could lead to changes to how the Pentagon segments a network and controls data access using the principles of zero trust. Sherman said DOD considers as security imperatives the full implementation of strategic, technical, and cultural changes involved in zero-trust.

“We have robust security…we have a lot of the pieces here,” he added.

To register for this virtual forum, visit the GovConWire Events page.

GovConWire Events will host its Defense Cybersecurity Forum to explore the progress that NSA and other federal agencies have made to protect U.S. national security and enhance its capabilities in threat intelligence, vulnerability assessments, and cyber defense to stay ahead of the nation’s adversaries in cyberspace. 

Morgan Adamski, chief of NSA’s Cybersecurity Collaboration Center, will serve as a keynote speaker. She will address the Cybersecurity Directorate’s mission, accomplishments in protecting U.S. assets, the role of commercial partnerships and the challenges still to come in cyber.

Maxar Technologies (NYSE:MAXR) (TSX:MAXR) , a trusted partner and innovator in Earth Intelligence and Space Infrastructure, today announced that its Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend of one cent ($0.01) per share. The dividend is payable on June 30, 2021, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on June 15, 2021.

About Maxar

Maxar is a trusted partner and innovator in Earth Intelligence and Space Infrastructure. We deliver disruptive value to government and commercial customers to help them monitor, understand and navigate our changing planet; deliver global broadband communications; and explore and advance the use of space.

Our unique approach combines decades of deep mission understanding and a proven commercial and defense foundation to deploy solutions and deliver insights with unrivaled speed, scale and cost effectiveness.

The Marine Corps plans to invest approximately $1 billion in electromagnetic warfare systems over the next five years. The Corp wants to develop future electromagnetic systems that fall into four categories, platform-agnostic, widely distributed and scalable, capabilities on-demand and mutually supporting networks, C4ISRNET reported the story on Friday. 

“If the operational or the tactical situation calls for electronic attack, there’s a full understanding of the entire spectrum and the decision can be made to do that. If a targeting solution is required based on the spectrum data, then that sensing solution can be provided to a targeting solution and maybe a kinetic strike will occur,” commented Col. Dave Burton, program manager for intelligence systems and portfolio manager for command element systems at Marine Corps Systems Command.

“We can see the spectrum as another part of the information environment that is crucial for future operations and understanding the spectrum and being able to maneuver in the spectrum either for electronic attack, electronic protection, to deny the adversary the use of spectrum is just another aspect of warfare,” Burton added.

The Corps doesn’t want systems designed for one platform or system, but rather systems that can spread around to fit multiple airborne or ground systems, which will increase resiliency. The systems need to be scalable, meaning equipment that individuals can hold, be mounted on vehicles and more. 

The service requires system capabilities on-demand instead of exquisite systems that help marines operate inside an enemy’s sphere of influence. The systems’ networks will be designed to be mutually supportive as well.

“Realizing that gray zone activities, particularly in INDOPACOM, it’s going to help us in competition to build targeting,” Barton said. 

“We’re going to be in competition 99 percent of the time, so having that sensing capability that we could actually use is going to be huge. In conflict, I want to have those electronic attack capabilities that are going to deny, degrade, disrupt the decision cycle of an adversary. I want to have non-kinetic options that I can provide the Marine force or the joint force.”

The Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology (DHS S&T) Directorate has selected Farmspace Systems to further develop a non-thermal technology for COVID-19 detection. 

The Tennessee-based, veteran-owned small business will mature its COVID Finder technology under a $199,653 phase one award from S&T’s Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP), DHS said Thursday.

Farmspace established a dedicated team in May last year to create a non-invasive tool for COVID-19 screening. The technology uses artificial intelligence to capture and detect images of the virus in the subject's breath. 

The corresponding screening booth undergoes disinfecting via ultraviolet light. The team will use the new funds to develop a framework that would guide how the captured images are used for diagnosis.

“Exploring this technology will bolster DHS efforts to safely bring back our valued workforce,” said Melissa Oh, SVIP's managing director.