Hoff's take on VMware and VirtSec

Chris Hoff has done a terrific job of putting in perspective the role of VMsafe as a fundament of VMware's  ecosystem in the next few years. Incidentally, it helps clarify the impression I took away from VMworld 2008 that security was the "dog that didn't bark."

The importance of FastPath and SlowPath in VMsafe were evident from the outset. But, as Chris points out, VMware seems now encouraging a mini-ecosystem to be built around VMsafe.  As I think about it, starting with Paul Maritz' keynote, there was a clear message encouraging a community of partners to make major use of VMsafe.  These invitations were usually couched in terms like "encouraging partners to embrace and enhance VDC OS infrastructure management" and took on real weight for me when I took in the extraordinarily GOOD job Cisco did in architecting their Nexus 1000V offer.

Thanks, Hoff. Great insights.

Rational Survivability: VMWare's VirtSec Vision...Virtual Validation?

...  What this ultimately means to me is that within the next 24 months with the delivery of VI4, a mature VMsafe API and shipping ISV code, we'll see some of the natural market consolidation activity occur and VMware will lock and load, snap up one or more of the emerging security players in the VirtSec space and bolster their platform's security capabilities.

Meanwhile Cisco will help secure VMware further in the enterprise with their integrated play and the remaining security ecosystem players will begrudgingly fight to stay on the good side of the fence...while they hedge their bets by supporting Microsoft and Hyper-V. ...