HP to offer comprehensive cloud security package

HP aims to implement security and best practices directly into a company's cloud and SaaS activities

HP has introduced a new line of services designed to help enterprises adopt and maintain security protection online and offline.

The company will expand its Secure Advantage programme with the addition of two new services geared towards helping companies secure their cloud computing and application management practices.

The first service, Cloud Computing Security Assessment, will focus on software-as-a-service (SaaS) implementation and management, allowing companies to receive a complete assessment of their cloud computing plans and plot ways to maintain security and compliance standards.

Alan Wilson, vice president of solutions infrastructure practice for HP's technology service, told V3.co.uk that the aim is to implement security and best practices directly into a company's cloud and SaaS activities.

"What we have is a more focused cloud computing security assessment, which is generally weaving security into the whole flavour," he said.

The second of the two services, Application Security Center of Excellence, will focus on application security, providing assessment and instructional services designed to help companies improve the security of applications for in-house and web-based use.

Both services are being offered as part of an expanding HP Secure Advantage platform. Spanning nearly all of HP's business services and products, the programme aims to offer a unified security approach for nearly all of the company's large enterprise and small to medium sized business customers.

Secure Advantage chief strategist Chris Whitener told V3.co.uk that the service is of particular importance to HP because the company now covers such a wide range of products that its enterprise customers have more than 200 different security products and platforms to manage.

"Security integration is becoming a very difficult problem," he said. "HP's product base is so wide that you would have to bolt IBM, EMC, Cisco and a printer company together to match it."

Whitener explained that, by providing a single platform for security, the company can help businesses at all levels to secure their HP products and IT infrastructure as a whole.