On Thursday, 07/13/2006 at 09:14 EST, Dennis Schaffer 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Thanks for your response.  I guess this Common Criteria option won't do 
me
> much good.

Well, consider that even with z/VM 5.1, no one is content to run with just 
RSU 1 and a few other required PTFs, even though that is the evaluated 
configuration.  So it is the spirit of the evaluation that is most 
important, not the letter.  The z/VM Secure Configuration Guide can be 
applied to most any modern z/VM release that has RACF.

> Just one more question:  You said v5.2 won't be evaluated for Common
> Criteria certification?  Do you know why?  Is it maybe a cost issue, 
where
> its too expensive to do it every release, possibly considering the 
demand
> (or lack thereof) in the VM community for the certification?  If so, do 
you
> have a guideline for how often you expect to apply?  Otherwise, can you
> tell me the reason?

Given the lifetime of a z/VM release these days (3 years), it's important 
to have certifications to apply to as much of that 3 years as possible. To 
get aligned with that goal, it was necessary to skip z/VM 5.2.

As to customer requirements for this function, it's kind of like my 
question a couple of months ago about the need for tape encryption - the 
response was cooler than I would have expected considering all the stories 
in the news these days.  Go figure.

We will continue to certify future releases of z/VM as long as there is 
value in doing so.  There's no guarantee that all releases will be 
certified, of course.  Each time we do it, we reevaluate the business 
case.

Alan Altmark
Lead Security Weasel
z/VM Development
IBM Endicott

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