Cloud guides.
Lightbridge Cloud publishes these guides as an independent, vendor-neutral reference for teams making cloud decisions: enterprise integration and platform choice, plus the compliance landscape defense and federal contractors navigate. We map workloads to the right tools and controls without reseller bias, so the explanations describe the subject as it is, not as a platform vendor would frame it.
Integration guides
What Is iPaaS
Integration Platform as a Service explained: what iPaaS is, how it differs from traditional ETL and ESB middleware, core capabilities, common use cases, and the leading platforms.
Read the guide →Boomi vs MuleSoft
A vendor-neutral comparison of Boomi and MuleSoft Anypoint Platform: connectors, API management, pricing model, learning curve, and how to decide which integration platform fits.
Read the guide →AWS vs Azure vs GCP
A vendor-neutral comparison of AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform: core strengths, compute and data capabilities, hybrid tooling, pricing model, and how to decide which provider fits.
Read the guide →What Is a Data Warehouse
Data warehousing explained: warehouse vs data lake vs lakehouse, ETL and ELT, star-schema modeling, cloud architecture (MPP, columnar, separated storage and compute), and the leading platforms.
Read the guide →What Is the Cloud SQL Auth Proxy
The Cloud SQL Auth Proxy explained: IAM-based authentication, automatic encryption, no public IP required, and where teams use it from local development to GKE and Cloud Run.
Read the guide →Multi-Cloud and Hybrid Cloud Architecture
Multi-cloud vs hybrid cloud architecture explained: workload placement, data gravity, network connectivity and peering, identity federation, and cost and complexity tradeoffs.
Read the guide →Government contracting and compliance guides
See the GovCon hub →DFARS and NIST 800-171
A vendor-neutral guide to DFARS 252.204-7012, the NIST SP 800-171 security requirements, SPRS self-assessment scoring, and how they ladder up to CMMC for defense contractors.
Read the guide →FIPS 140-2 and 140-3
What FIPS 140-2 and FIPS 140-3 validation establishes, why "AES-256 encrypted" is not the same claim, and what to verify for NIST SP 800-171 requirement 3.13.11.
Read the guide →FOCI Guide
A vendor-neutral guide to Foreign Ownership, Control or Influence: how DCSA reviews FOCI under 32 CFR Part 117 and the mitigation instruments from Board Resolution to Voting Trust.
Read the guide →C-SCRM and NIST 800-161
A vendor-neutral guide to Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management under NIST SP 800-161: supplier risk assessment, provenance and pedigree tracking, contractual flow-down, and how it connects to DFARS obligations for operationally critical support or subcontract performance involving covered defense information.
Read the guide →DoD Zero Trust and CMMC
The DoD Zero Trust Strategy and NIST SP 800-207's zero trust concepts, mapped to CMMC and NIST SP 800-171 Revision 2 CUI environments, and where zero trust architecture informs but does not replace applicable security requirements.
Read the guide →CUI Explained
Plain-English guide to CUI: what it is, NARA CUI Registry categories, Basic vs Specified, marking and handling, and how safeguarding maps to DFARS, NIST 800-171, and CMMC.
Read the guide →CMMC Asset Scoping and CUI Enclave
The five CMMC Level 2 asset categories (CUI Assets, Security Protection Assets, Contractor Risk Managed Assets, Specialized Assets, Out-of-Scope Assets) and how a CUI enclave can help narrow the assessment boundary when properly separated per the Out-of-Scope criteria.
Read the guide →Salesforce Government Cloud
Can CUI live in Salesforce? A vendor-neutral guide to commercial Salesforce vs Government Cloud vs Government Cloud Plus, FedRAMP authorization levels, and what a defense contractor needs.
Read the guide →ITAR vs EAR
A vendor-neutral guide to US export controls: ITAR versus EAR, deemed exports, and why cloud access, encryption, and key custody decide export-control exposure.
Read the guide →Data Sovereignty
Data sovereignty vs residency: why jurisdiction and the CLOUD Act outrank disk location, how to classify data, and the controls (key custody, isolation) that enforce sovereignty.
Read the guide →BYOK vs HYOK
Compare BYOK, HYOK, external key stores, and provider-managed keys: who holds key material, who can decrypt, and which model fits a sovereignty or compliance requirement.
Read the guide →Cloud and GovCon Glossary
An index of the government-contracting cloud vocabulary covered across these guides: DFARS, CMMC, CUI, DoD Impact Levels, SSP, POA&M, FOCI, ITAR/EAR, and BYOK/HYOK.
Read the guide →SBOM for Defense Contractors
What a Software Bill of Materials is, how EO 14028 and the NIST SSDF inform federal software-security expectations, and what a defense contractor delivering software needs to know to produce or request one.
Read the guide →Lightbridge Cloud guides explain the rules without selling a platform.
Most cloud compliance explainers are published by platform vendors and resellers who profit when you pick their product, so the framing tilts toward what they sell. Lightbridge Cloud is an independent cloud advisory practice that recommends AWS, Azure, or GCP on workload fit, not partner incentives. These guides describe the regulations and the controls neutrally.
When you are ready to turn learning into an authorization path, the same practice runs CMMC readiness, maps workloads across GovCloud and Impact Levels, and guides FedRAMP readiness across the federal landscape. For a persona-first starting point across all of it, see the GovCon hub.
From learning to an authorization path.
When the reading is done and a real compliance decision is on the table, Lightbridge Cloud runs vendor-neutral readiness advisory that maps every workload to the right controls.