HP and VMware team up for virtualised intrusion prevention

HP and VMware have announced a partnership to secure virtualised environments by integrating HP TippingPoint's intrusion prevention system with VMware vShield and vCloud Director.

The system can monitor the security of virtual servers, according to the pair, and make it easier for IT managers to set up unified security policies.

"This partnership will result in much better network security options for the cloud," Michael Callahan, senior director of security product marketing at HP Networking, told V3.co.uk.

"VMware and vSphere is a wonderful platform, and we can monitor network traffic in the virtualised world as we do in the physical world."

The product is supported by HP services and will be priced depending on the HP and VMware services to which the client already subscribes.

"Our customers demand a security solution that is tailored for the new requirements of virtual and cloud environments," said Allwyn Sequeira, chief technology officer at VMware.

"We are pleased to work with HP TippingPoint to optimise today's solutions and collaborate to deliver the next generation of cloud-enabled security."

The industry is certainly ready for better virtualised security. John Stewart, chief security officer at Cisco, maintained recently that security had been forgotten in the rush for virtualisation.

"You ask people if they've virtualised their servers, the answer is yes," he said. "Ask them if they've secured their virtualised systems, and all too often the answer is no."