IBM’s SoftLayer cloud services are now more secure thanks to Intel

IBM is baking more security into its hybrid cloud pony SoftLayer thanks to a new deal with Intel. Announced just one day ahead of the annual Intel Developer Forum, SoftLayer is being equipped with bare metal servers powered by Intel Trusted Execution Technology, providing extra hardware monitoring and security controls down to the microchip level. Aimed at large enterprises and government agencies answering to audits and compliance regulation, the extra security is designed to further protect sensitive workloads, identity management, and incident response.

Fortifying its SoftLayer cloud services for enterprise use, IBM has started using Intel’s chip-based Trusted Execution Technology to help organizations in highly regulated industries meet their auditing and security compliance requirements. On Monday, IBM started offering bare-metal cloud servers—servers with no software installed—with Intel’s Trusted Execution Technology (TXT) monitoring and security tools. TXT can offer a “chain-of-trust” from the SoftLayer servers back to an organization’s internal auditing and compliance monitoring processes, said Marc Jones, IBM SoftLayer chief technology officer. TXT provides “a validation that the device hasn’t been tampered with, and that there isn’t any man-in-the-middle spoofing,” Jones said. “We can offer a chain-of-trust from the customer’s on-premise environment to the SoftLayer environment.” The Intel TXT validation can provide evidence that organizations can use to comply with security regulations across industries such as healthcare, financial services and government organizations.