IBM Readies New Virtualization Tools

IBM is preparing to ramp up its virtualization capabilities on Feb. 6.

The Armonk, N.Y., company is using the IDC Virtualization Forum in New York City to launch two new products aimed at increasing its presence within the virtualization field with new security software and tools for mainframe virtualization.

On the security front, IBM is offering what it calls secure architecture for virtual hypervisors used with x86 and blade servers. In one way, IBM is trying to offer customers the same type of security that can be found in traditional mainframe servers—a space where the company is the dominant presence.

This architecture, which company executives are calling Secure Hypervisor, or “sHype,” will work as an embedded tool that wraps around a hypervisor to better secure a virtualized workload.

As workloads—whether an operating system, application or middleware—are migrated from either a physical machine to virtual machine or from one virtual machine to another, the Secure Hypervisor will also migrate with the workload and provide the same set of security measures that were originally constructed to protect the data.

“The idea behind this is to have mandatory access control,” said Kevin Leahy, director of virtualization for IBM. “It’s something that is always there and there’s no way to get around it.”

Read the full story on eWeek: IBM Readies New Virtualization Tools