What VMware thinks about security

VMware boasts encryption, seeks standards

Enterprises should be able to adapt their security practices pretty naturally to VMware environments, an executive at EMC's virtualization outfit says.

See our story on virtualization security.

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Enterprises should be able to adapt their security practices pretty naturally to VMware environments, an executive at EMC's virtualization outfit says.

See our story on virtualization security.

VMware, whose VMotion technology lets managers whisk virtual server images on and off physical hardware at the press of a button, is mindful of the security implications that such flexibility brings, says Patrick Lin, director of product management and data center platform products.

VMware’s products use their own Assured Computing Environment technology to allow IT managers to create a virtual machine that uses encryption or can be preset to stop functioning at certain expiration dates.

But Lin acknowledges the overall security picture is evolving and the industry as a whole is trying to sort out what role security standards can play.

“Are people looking at standards now? Absolutely,” he says. VMware, which would like to be a security and management standards contributor, isn’t sure which standards body would take this on.

“Maybe it’s the Trusted Computing Group or the Distributed Management Task Force,” Lin says.

Read more about security in Network World's Security section.