The National Institute of Standards and Technology plans to re-release a draft special publication on zero-trust network security early next month, FedScoop reported Tuesday.

The first draft, released in September, defines zero-trust security as the shift from wide network perimeters to micro-perimeters around smaller resources.

Scott Rose, a computer scientist at NIST, said at a Duo Security event in Washington, D.C. that the new publication will deploy vendor-neutral definitions and a conceptual framework for zero-trust security.

NIST also intends to issue follow-on references to cover the integration of the zero-trust approach to identity management, microservices and technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, he noted.

According to Rose, NIST is planning to conduct a demonstration project for zero-trust methods in spring. A test lab under the agency has begun recreating security architectures deployed by other agencies and the financial sector as part of research efforts on the security approach.

CenturyLink has announced its support for the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) approval of the ten-year, $20.4 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, the company announced on Thursday. The order will  design a course for the future of broadband support through the FCC’s Universal Service Fund program. 

“We appreciate Chairman Pai’s and the other commissioners’ leadership and collaborative efforts in designing a program that will bring the tremendous benefits of broadband and faster speeds to more Americans in high-cost, hard-to-serve areas of the country where it’s currently lacking,” said David Bartlett, CenturyLink vice president of government affairs.

The order will support up to gigabit speed broadband networks in areas without access to 25/3 Mbps broadband service and connect people in a cost-effective manner, funded through competitive bidding.

Without access to broadband, rural communities are unable to connect to the digital economy, education, employment, healthcare, and civic and social engagement. This Order would establish a new two-stage support mechanism. 

In Phase I, the commission will also allocate up to $16 billion for support targeting census blocks that are unserved by 25/3 Mbps broadband service. The FCC will use at least $4.4 billion in Phase II for unserved locations in partially served census blocks and areas not won in Phase I. 

In addition, the census will deploy networks that will stand the test of time, including those providing gigabit connections by increasing the minimum speed to 25/3 Mbps from the 10/1 Mbps used in the Connect America Fund Phase II auction.

The order will also prioritize the support for services with faster speeds and low latency and allocate support in each area to the bidder in the faster speed tier when there is more than one bid to serve that area. 

The order will additionally require winning bidders in Phase I to offer broadband and voice service to all eligible homes and small businesses within the awarded areas. The FCC will prioritize support going to areas entirely lacking even 10/1 Mbps broadband as well as rural Tribal areas.

“We are excited that the FCC has adopted the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund,” Bartlett added. 

About CenturyLink

CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) is a technology leader delivering hybrid networking, cloud connectivity, and security solutions to customers around the world. Through its extensive global fiber network, CenturyLink provides secure and reliable services to meet the growing digital demands of businesses and consumers. CenturyLink strives to be the trusted connection to the networked world and is focused on delivering technology that enhances the customer experience. Learn more at http://news.centurylink.com/

UiPath has partnered with Applica, a Robotic Text Automation company, to expand access to solutions designed to automate text-intensive processes, the companies announced on Thursday. 

"With its R&D team of AI experts, Applica has engineered an easy-to-use advanced framework of solutions that extracts meaning from unstructured documents and transforms it into actionable information, which was seamlessly integrated into the UiPath platform," says Boris Krumrey, vice president of Automation Innovations at UiPath.

The partnership will allow users to extract meaning from both semi-structured and unstructured documents and transform it into actionable data that is used by bots to automate text-intensive work.

Applica will bring automated documents, including semi-structured and plain text, translating them into Robotic Text Automation, which will be language and domain-agnostic, to the partnership. The company will also useContextual Awareness technology to train and comprehend new documents and use cases with just a handful of examples.

Under the partnership, UiPath will provide and open training, collaboration, and enabling robots to learn new skills through AI and machine learning. The company will also integrate enterprise RPA platform. UiPath’s technology has automated millions of tasks for business and government organizations all over the world, improving productivity, customer experience, and employee job satisfaction.

"We believe in a future where mundane jobs that require text comprehension are automated and humans are moved to higher-value work. Entering this technology alliance with UiPath, a clear RPA market leader, unlocks a multitude of verticals and use cases for our effortless and ultra-versatile Robotic Text Automation Platform," says Piotr Surma, Applica co-founder and CEO.

About UiPath

UiPath is a global software company that develops a platform for robotic process automation. Following its acquisition of both ProcessGold and StepShot in 2019, UiPath has become the first vendor of scale to bring together both process mining and Robotic Process Automation.

About Applica 

UiPath is leading the "Automation First" era – championing one robot for every person, delivering free and open training, collaboration, and enabling robots to learn new skills through AI and machine learning. Led by a commitment to bring digital era skills to more than a million people, the company's enterprise RPA platform has already automated millions of repetitive, mind-numbing tasks for business and government organizations all over the world, improving productivity, customer experience, and employee job satisfaction.