Symantec: Cloud 3.0 Starts with Better Security

The dawn of a new era of cloud computing is upon us, and one that will be defined by more granular application workloads that are seamlessly integrated across an open and secure ecosystem.

According to Dave Elliott, Symantec senior product marketing manager for global cloud marketing, the first step toward turning this vision of applications being developed and deployed with the cloud in mind is making sure that a cloud 3.0 ecosystem that will start to emerge in 2013 is secure.

To that end, Symantec is promising to provide that security via Symantec O3, a suite of cloud access control offerings, and new Symantec File Share Encryption software due in 2013 that is based on a new iteration of the company’s PGP encryption software. Symantec also plans to deliver a new Symantec Protection Engine for Cloud Service provider offering along with new features in Veritas Cluster Server software that are designed to make it easier to build and secure cloud applications that span multiple tiers.

Finally, Symantec is also promising to deliver Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition 2013, which includes integration with a wide variety of security and data protection services delivered by Symantec.

The degree to which security defines Cloud 3.0 remains to be seen. There are a raft of other issues that need to be addressed as well before a new generation of cloud-native applications are routinely developed and deployed by the average IT organization. But there’s no doubt that a year from now, the cloud is going to be much different than what IT organizations wrestle to secure and manage today, which should lead to a new “cloud first” mentality within IT. Where that cloud is going to reside remains to be seen, but more than likely it will be a hybrid affair requiring more sophisticated orchestration technologies to manage than the average IT organization has access to today.