Intel Works with EMC Units to Secure Cloud Computing

The demonstration consisted of using management software from EMC’s RSA security division in conjunction with VMware virtual machines to create, deploy and manage security policies. The policies were then executed on Intel processors that were configured with forthcoming Trusted Execution Technology (TXT) that Intel developed to help verify software code running on any given system.

According to RSA chief technology marketing officer Sam Curry, the Intel technology is critical because it allows VMware and RSA to query the processor about what other applications are running on the processor. IT managers can also then set polices such as not allowing certain applications to run on a shared processor, not allowing certain types of data to be stored on disk or not allowing certain applications to run in certain countries.

The fourth component of the RSA technology demonstration consists of suite of governance, risk management and compliance tools from Archer Technologies, which was recently acquired by the RSA division of EMC.

According to Curry, the end goal of this effort is to reassure customers that cloud computing is not only safe; it has the potential to be safer than their existing on premise environments. The ultimate issue, said Curry, is that what customers really want is a private cloud capability no matter whether their applications are running internally or on someone else’s public cloud infrastructure.