Amazon Web Services Achieves FedRAMP Compliance for AWS GovCloud (U.S.) and All U.S. Regions

Achievement recognizes suitability of AWS to run sensitive government applications and meet security and compliance mandates

U.S. Department of the Navy, U.S. Department of the Treasury, NASA, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Recovery.gov, and over 300 U.S. government agencies are using AWS to save money, drive research and development, and increase innovation globally

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NAS: AMZN) , today announced AWS GovCloud (U.S.) and all U.S. AWS Regions have received an Agency Authority to Operate (ATO) from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) requirements at the Moderate impact level. FedRAMP is a U.S. government-wide program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services. With this distinction, AWS has demonstrated it can meet the extensive FedRAMP security requirements and as a result, an even wider range of government customers can leverage AWS’s secure environment to store, process, and protect a diverse array of sensitive government data. Leveraging the HHS authorization, all U.S. government agencies now have the information they need to evaluate AWS for their applications and workloads, provide their own authorizations to use AWS, and transition workloads into the AWS environment. To learn more about the AWS and FedRAMP compliance, please visit http://aws.amazon.com/compliance/.

“More than 300 U.S. government agencies already use the wide array of AWS services to be more innovative, agile, and cost-efficient,” said Teresa Carlson, AWS Vice President of Worldwide Public Sector. “Today most government computing systems require built-to-order platforms and applications to meet government security and compliance requirements, which involve time-consuming and costly evaluations. With this FedRAMP compliance, agencies can now utilize a streamlined process from AWS when moving applications to the cloud to meet their unique business and mission requirements.”

“The FedRAMP requirements raise the security bar for the agencies, results in uniform evaluations, and will provide government entities with immediate benefits of using the AWS Cloud,” said Stephen Schmidt, AWS Chief Information Security Officer.

The Agency granting the ATO and filing with the FedRAMP repository is HHS. “HHS’s authorization of Amazon’s cloud services using FedRAMP requirements ensures the security of government data and paves the way for other agencies in using secure cloud services,” said Matthew Goodrich, FedRAMP Program Manager. “Amazon and HHS have demonstrated that cloud providers can meet the FedRAMP requirements in addition to the provisional authorizations granted by the FedRAMP Joint Authorization Board. Other agencies can leverage this authorization, potentially saving the Federal government hundreds of thousands of dollars by eliminating redundant security authorizations of Amazon’s environment.”

“HHS worked closely with the FedRAMP program office and AWS to achieve FedRAMP compliance. Utilizing the FedRAMP templates, HHS was able to maintain security requirements while achieving economies of scale,” said Kevin Charest, HHS Chief Information Security Officer. “FedRAMP promoted the trust, transparency, collaboration, and commitment necessary between cloud service providers and Federal agencies to comply with the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA). HHS is pleased to be one of the first Federal agencies to go through the FedRAMP process, and to issue an Agency FedRAMP ATO. Our collaborative approach allowed all of HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVS) to leveragethat ATO and thereby reduce duplicative efforts, inconsistencies, and cost inefficiencies associated with current security authorization processes.”

With today’s announcement, all agencies have an efficient way to run their FedRAMP required workloads on AWS. Agencies can immediately request access to the AWS FedRAMP package by submitting a FedRAMP Package Access Request Form and begin moving through the authorization process to achieve an ATO using AWS.

About Amazon Web Services

Launched in 2006, Amazon Web Services, Inc. began exposing key infrastructure services to businesses in the form of web services — now widely known as cloud computing. The ultimate benefit of cloud computing, and AWS, is the ability to leverage a new business model and turn capital infrastructure expenses into variable costs. Businesses no longer need to plan and procure servers and other IT resources weeks or months in advance. Using AWS, businesses can take advantage of Amazon’s expertise and economies of scale to access resources when their business needs them, delivering results faster and at a lower cost. Today, Amazon Web Services provides a highly reliable, scalable, low-cost infrastructure platform in the cloud that powers hundreds of thousands of enterprise, government and startup customers businesses in 190 countries around the world. Amazon Web Services offers over 30 different services, including Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) and Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS). AWS services are available to customers from data center locations in the U.S., Brazil, Europe, Japan, Singapore and Australia.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NAS: AMZN) , a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services, Inc. provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle Paperwhite is the most-advanced e-reader ever constructed with 62% more pixels and 25% increased contrast, a patented built-in front light for reading in all lighting conditions, extra-long battery life, and a thin and light design. The new latest generation Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, now features new, improved fonts and faster page turns. Kindle Fire HD features a stunning custom high-definition display, exclusive Dolby audio with dual stereo speakers, high-end, laptop-grade Wi-Fi with dual-band support, dual-antennas and MIMO for faster streaming and downloads, enough storage for HD content, and the latest generation processor and graphics engine—and it is available in two display sizes—7″ and 8.9″. The large-screen Kindle Fire HD is also available with 4G wireless, and comes with a groundbreaking $49.99 introductory 4G LTE data package. The all-new Kindle Fire features a 20% faster processor, 40% faster performance, twice the memory, and longer battery life.

Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, www.amazon.es and www.amazon.com.br. As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management’s expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment and data center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com’s financial results is included in Amazon.com’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

Amazon.com, Inc.
Media Hotline, 206-266-7180
www.amazon.com/pr

KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  Washington

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SanDisk Advances Its Industry-Leading Manufacturing Technology

MILPITAS, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced it has begun customer sampling of flash memory products based on its industry-leading 1Ynm process technology, which represents its second generation 19 nanometer (nm) manufacturing technology.

SanDisk’s achievement of this breakthrough in semiconductor manufacturing takes its memory cell size from 19nm-by-26nm to 19nm-by-19.5nm, delivering a 25 percent reduction of the memory cell area and allowing SanDisk to continue leading the industry in building smaller, more powerful flash memory products.

SanDisk’s second-generation 19nm memory die uses the most sophisticated flash memory technology node to-date, including advanced process innovations and cell-design solutions. SanDisk’s All-Bit-Line (ABL) architecture with proprietary programming algorithms and multi-level data storage management schemes help yield multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips that do not sacrifice performance or reliability. In addition, SanDisk’s three bits per cell X3 technology, implemented in the second-generation 19nm node will deliver the lowest-cost flash solutions to address multiple growing end-markets for flash memory.

SanDisk’s latest breakthrough in shrinking the circuitry used in flash memory chips allows higher capacity products and lower cost manufacturing techniques to be employed when creating SanDisk’s flash memory solutions. Consumers and businesses worldwide will benefit from this new advanced manufacturing technology by having access to higher capacity and smaller-sized flash memory chips from SanDisk for mobile phones, tablets, Solid State Drives (SSDs) for client and enterprise markets, and consumer products.

About SanDisk

SanDisk Corporation (NAS: SNDK) is a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, from research and development, product design and manufacturing to branding and distribution for OEM and retail channels. Since 1988, SanDisk’s innovations in flash memory and storage system technologies have provided customers with new and transformational digital experiences. SanDisk’s diverse product portfolio includes flash memory cards and embedded solutions used in smart phones, tablets, digital cameras, camcorders, digital media players and other consumer electronic devices, as well as USB flash drives and solid-state drives (SSD) for the computing market. SanDisk’s products are used by consumers and enterprise customers around the world.

SanDisk is a Silicon Valley-based S&P 500 and Fortune 500 company, with more than half its sales outside the United States. For more information, visit www.sandisk.com.

© 2013 SanDisk Corporation. All rights reserved. SanDisk and the SanDisk logo are trademarks of SanDisk Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries. Other brand names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective holder(s).

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including expectations for technologies, performance, costs, product capabilities, markets and customers that are based on our current expectations and involve numerous risks and uncertainties that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate. Risks that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate include among others: the market demand for our products may grow more slowly than our expectations or the other risks detailed from time-to-time in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including, but not limited to, our most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q and our annual report on Form 10-K. We do not intend to update the information contained in this press release.

SanDisk Corporation
Tom Beermann, 408-801-1443
tom.beermann@sandisk.com

KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  California

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Orange Business Services expands reach of Flexible Computing enterprise cloud infrastructure services

PARIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Orange Business Services today announced the expansion of Flexible Computing, an Infrastructure as a Service offer. With 500 customers already operating from its European platform, Flexible Computing is now available from cloud-ready data centers in North America and Asia. Flexible Computing meets the growing demand from multinational corporations (MNCs) for networked cloud infrastructure services from a single communications and IT services provider.

Orange Business Services integrates Flexible Computing with its global network to deliver a secure end-to-end service for moving business applications to the cloud. Working with a single provider removes complexity and guarantees performance and availability through stringent business-centric SLAs. Additional benefits include:

• rapid scalability and flexibility: Flexible Computing offers a scalable and modular service for fast and easy provisioning of resources that can scale up and down to meet fluctuating demand and dynamic business growth.
• self-managed or fully-managed service: MNCs can choose either self-managed Infrastructure-as-a-Service accessed through a secure easy-to-use self-service portal, or a fully-managed service, allowing MNCs to further optimize internal IT resources to focus on strategic projects and application delivery.
• usage-based pricing: Through usage-based invoicing, customers can predict and monitor both their IT resources and service consumption. Paying only for the resources and services they use helps companies better align IT costs with business activities.

An early international customer of the Flexible Computing service is China’s Tiens Group, a multinational corporation in capital management across a number of industries, including biotechnology, health, hotels and e-commerce. Orange Business Services is supplying virtual computing resources for Tiens business units around the world. With Flexible Computing, Tiens can rapidly scale up or scale down according to demand. This is driving down costs and helping Tiens establish itself more quickly in new markets.

“Orange Business Services created a global IT infrastructure in the cloud to match our international business on the ground,” said Bai Ping, President of Tiens Group. “We have become a more agile organization as we continue to grow globally, and that is all due to the depth and scope of the Flexible Computing service provided.”

“The international expansion of Flexible Computing, coupled with Orange’s seamless cloud-ready network, offers the reach, flexibility and unmatched coverage that our customers are looking for,” said Thierry Bonhomme, CEO, Orange Business Services. “The on-demand IT resources and infrastructure enables them to seize new markets and opportunities, as well as accelerate time-to-market for new products and services.”

Cloud computing is one of the strategic pillars of the Orange Business Services “Conquests 2015″ plan, targeting 500 million euros in cloud computing revenues in 2015. After a 33 percent increase in 2012 cloud computing revenue, Orange Business Services is on track to meet its objective.

About Orange Business Services

Orange Business Services, the France Telecom-Orange branch dedicated to B2B services, is a leading global integrator of communications solutions for multinational corporations. With the world’s largest, seamless network for voice and data, Orange Business Services reaches 220 countries and territories with local support in 166. Offering a comprehensive package of communication services covering cloud computing, enterprise mobility, M2M, security, unified communications, videoconferencing, and broadband, Orange Business Services delivers a best-in-class customer experience across a global landscape. Thousands of enterprise customers and 1.4 million mobile data users rely on an Orange Business Services international platform for communicating and conducting business. Orange Business Services was awarded three of the telecom industry’s highest accolades at the annual World Communication Awards 2012 – Best Global Operator, Best Cloud Service and the User’s Choice Award. Orange Business Services is a five-time winner of Best Global Operator. Learn more at www.orange-business.com.

France Telecom-Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with annual sales of 43.5 billion euros and has 170,000 employees worldwide at March 31, 2013. Orange is the Group’s single brand for Internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the company operates. France Telecom (NYS: FTE) is listed on Euronext Paris (compartment A) and on the New York Stock Exchange.

Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trademarks of Orange Brand Services Limited, Orange France or France Telecom.

Orange Business Services
Elizabeth Mayeri, +1 212 251 2086
elizabeth.mayeri@orange.com
or
Orange
Sylvie Duho, +33 1 44 44 93 93
service.presse@orange.com

KEYWORDS:   United States  Europe  North America  France  New York

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NetSpend Holdings, Inc. Announces New Special Meeting Date

AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)– NetSpend Holdings, Inc. (NAS: NTSP) (“NetSpend” or the “Company”), a leading provider of general-purpose reloadable prepaid debit cards (“GPR”) and related financial services to underbanked consumers in the United States, today announced that it has postponed until Friday, May 31, 2013 its special meeting of stockholders to be held in connection with the Company’s proposed merger with Total System Services, Inc., a Georgia corporation (“TSYS”).

As previously disclosed, on February 19, 2013 the Company entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger, by and among the Company, TSYS and General Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation and a wholly-owned subsidiary of TSYS (the “Merger Agreement”). On April 23, 2013, the Company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a definitive proxy statement with respect to the special meeting of NetSpend shareholders to vote on the proposed transaction. On May 20, 2013, the Company amended its proxy disclosure as described in the Form 8-K issued on that date. The Company postponed its special meeting of stockholders in order to provide its stockholders with additional time to consider this information.

The special meeting of NetSpend stockholders, originally scheduled for May 22, 2013, is now scheduled to take place on May 31, 2013, starting at 10:00 a.m., Central Time, at the offices of Baker Botts, L.L.P., 98 San Jacinto Blvd., Suite 1500, Austin, Texas 78701. The record date for the special meeting is still April 3, 2013. Any proxies or votes already submitted by stockholders in connection with the special meeting will remain valid and be unaffected by the delay in holding the special meeting. There is no need for any stockholder to vote again. As of the close of business on May 20, 2013, the Company has received a number of proxies representing shares that if voted at the special meeting would be sufficient to approve the proposal to adopt the Merger Agreement. Stockholders may change their vote or revoke any proxy previously submitted at any time before the special meeting by following the instructions set forth in the definitive proxy statement filed by the Company with the SEC on April 23, 2013.

The change in the date of the special meeting will not affect the timing of the closing of the transaction. The Company expects to close the merger as soon as practicable following receipt of shareholder approval and satisfaction of all other conditions to closing, including required regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close in mid-2013.

About NetSpend

NetSpend is a leading provider of GPR prepaid debit cards and related financial services to the estimated 68 million underbanked consumers in the United States who do not have a traditional bank account or who rely on alternative financial services. The Company’s mission is to develop products and services that empower underbanked consumers with the convenience, security and freedom to be self-banked. Headquartered in Austin, TX, NetSpend is traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol NTSP. Please visit http://www.netspend.com for more information.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains statements about the expected timing, completion and effects of the proposed merger and all other statements in this document, other than historical facts, constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements and any such forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by reference to the following cautionary statements. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and are based on current expectations and involve a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. The Company may not be able to complete the proposed merger on the terms described above or other acceptable terms or at all because of a number of factors, including the failure to obtain stockholder approval or the failure to satisfy the closing conditions. Factors that may affect the business or financial results of the Company are described in the risk factors included in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company’s 2012 Annual Report on Form 10-K, the Company’s 2012 Annual Report on Form 10-K/A and later filed quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K, which factors are incorporated herein by reference. The Company expressly disclaims a duty to provide updates to forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or other occurrences.

IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WILL BE FILED WITH THE SEC

This communication may be deemed to be solicitation material in respect of the proposed merger. In connection with the proposed merger, the Company filed a definitive Proxy Statement with the SEC on April 23, 2013. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF THE COMPANY ARE ADVISED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE, BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Investors and stockholders may obtain free copies of the proxy statement and other documents filed by the Company (when available) free of charge at the SEC’s Web site at www.sec.gov or in the Investor Relations section of the Company’s Web site at www.netspend.com. The proxy statement and such other documents may also be obtained for free from the Company by directing such request to NetSpend Holdings, Inc., Attn: Secretary, Telephone (512) 532-8200.

PARTICIPANTS IN SOLICITATION

The Company and certain of its directors, executive officers and other members of its management and employees may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the Company’s stockholders in connection with the proposed merger. Information concerning the interests of the directors and executive officers of the Company is set forth in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K/A, which was filed with the SEC on April 19, 2013. Additional information regarding the interests of these individuals and other persons who may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation has been included in the definitive proxy statement relating to the transaction as filed with the SEC on April 23, 2013.

NetSpend Holdings, Inc.
Krista Shepard, 512-531-8732
kshepard@netspend.com

KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  Texas

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