Dallas, Texas - (The Hosting News) - April 3, 2008 - On-demand hosting services for the small to medium enterprise (SME), SoftLayer, has initiated an SAS 70 review, including the assessment of all processes and systems necessary to complete an accompanying Type II report.
An SAS 70 review is an in-depth survey of a service organization's control objectives and control activities to determine the organizations' effectiveness in meeting those control objectives. It is an important step for any service organization supporting outsourced, mission-critical, and information technology services. SAS 70 data centers have to maintain prescribed levels of data security and redundancy, as well as personnel controls. These requirements include a full assessment of the following elements:
- Firewall configuration and access
- Database access
- Data transmissions
- Data backup and recovery
- Application security
- Product development
In addition, data center staff cannot access servers or data without a specific procedure. All systems access and activity must be logged, and all physical access is highly controlled.
SoftLayer's review will be conducted by an independent auditing agency and include extensive testing performed over a six-month period. It will involve all existing and planned SoftLayer data center facilities in Dallas, Seattle, and Washington, DC. The company anticipates that the Type II report will be delivered by year-end.
A completed SAS 70 report will allow SoftLayer to provide its customers with concrete assurance - as well as standardized auditing reports - that its controls are efficient and reliable based upon industry-recognized standards, alleviating the need for additional assessments.
Headquartered in Plano, Texas, SoftLayer provides next-generation web hosting and on-demand datacenter services on a global basis from facilities located in Dallas, TX and Seattle, WA. Utilizing proprietary management tools coupled with the industry's first network-within-a-network topology, the company delivers unprecedented power and control to securely manage IT environments while providing unparalleled scalability.
To learn more about SoftLayer, please visit: www.softlayer.com.
