DOE Envisions New High Performance Data Facility

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has proposed and begun the bidding process (https://science.osti.gov/-/media/grants/pdf/lab-announcements/2023/LAB-23-3020.pdf) for a new High Performance Data Facility, "which will be a centralized hub of shared datasets and other resources located in one of its HPC labs that connects out through spokes of network to storage and computation in the other centers," says Timothy Prickett Morgan (https://www.nextplatform.com/2023/03/14/doe-wants-a-hub-and-spoke-system-of-hpc-systems/).

"The DOE envisions the hub and spoke model will have the HPDF as its foundation, where shared datasets will be centralized and shared across spoke facilities. What the DOE is looking for is more of a system of systems approach than a centralized compute and storage facility, something that looks very much like XSEDE to our eye," Morgan says.

In other news, the HPC (https://www.admin-magazine.com/HPC/) computing market is anticipated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.3 percent by 2029, according to a new report from Orion Market Research (https://www.openpr.com/news/2997234/high-performance-computing-hpc-market-to-witness).

This "astonishing" rate is driven by factors including a "growing requirement for HPC solutions in various applications, continued diversification, expansion of the IT industry, advances in virtualization, and rising preference for hybrid HPC solutions" the report says.

VMware Updates Tanzu with New Security Features

VMware has announced new capabilities across the VMware Tanzu platform to help customers better manage security, cost, and performance.

According to the announcement (https://news.vmware.com/releases/vmware-enhances-tanzu-and-aria-platforms), Tanzu Application Platform 1.5 "enhances end-to-end app security and streamlines developer and platform engineering experiences." New features include "auto-configuration of Transport Layer Security (TLS) and support for external security tools for secrets management."

VMware also announced updates to Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations (https://tanzu.vmware.com/kubernetes-operations) that are aimed at helping teams "adopt a 'shift-left' approach to security and greater flexibility" in navigating Kubernetes security policy management.

Microsoft Launches AI-Powered Security Copilot

Microsoft has launched Microsoft Security Copilot (https://news.microsoft.com/ai-security-2023/), which aims to "augment the work of security professionals through an easy-to-use AI assistant."

According to the announcement (https://news.microsoft.com/2023/03/28/with-security-copilot-microsoft-brings-the-power-of-ai-to-cyberdefense/), Security Copilot "is designed to work seamlessly with security teams, empowering defenders to see what is happening in their environment, learn from existing intelligence, correlate threat activity, and make more informed, efficient decisions at machine speed."

For example, the tool can assist teams "by summarizing data on attacks, prioritizing incidents, and recommending the best course of action to swiftly remediate diverse threats."

Microsoft Security Copilot is currently available through private preview. More information can be found on the website (https://news.microsoft.com/ai-security-2023/).