Symantec turns to virtualisation

Symantec is turning to virtualisation and cloud computing to protect Web surfers and let them access Web-based applications from one site, states ZDNet Asia.

The company demonstrated the technologies, along with another one designed to block malware from getting into corporate networks, to reporters and briefed them on its research and development strategy, at an event it dubbed: 'Innovation Showcase', in California last week.

Virtualisation technology that essentially creates different machines on the same computer offers a good platform for securing PCs by providing different protected environments, said Joe Pasqua, VP of research at Symantec Research Labs.

Specialist distributor, Virtual Desktops Australia, has been appointed the master supplier of Pano Logic's Virtual Desktop Solution, reports ARN.

Virtual Desktops MD Craig Hynes said the US-based vendor's offering was appealing both as a solution around workstation rollouts and as a greener infrastructure approach.

“The Pano box uses less power than a PC that has been switched off,” he said. “We also see desktop virtualisation as the next logical step from server virtualisation.”

Businesses are struggling to integrate virtualisation into their IT infrastructures, according to new research claiming to show that two-thirds of UK firms cannot identify exactly how many virtual machines they are operating, says vnunet.

The survey, conducted by research firm Vanson Bourne on behalf of IT consultancy Morse, looked at server virtualisation deployment in 100 UK firms with over 3 000 employees.

It found that many companies did not have effective management strategies in place to adequately track and control virtualisation, leading to virtual machine sprawl as servers are created to meet a need, but are not removed once they have fulfilled their purpose.