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SoftLayer hardens up its hybrid cloud with TXT

That's Chipzilla's Trusted Execution Tech, not a mere thumb's up message

IBM's SoftLayer public cloud branch has flicked the switch on Intel's Trusted Execution (TXT) Technology, allowing users of its service to guarantee their code runs on identifiable servers.

TXT allows users to validate a machine's BIOS and hardware state, handy tricks because it means software can be tuned so it will only run on machines with known good states as verified by Intel's software. That's an especially useful trick in the cloud, because those considering cloud sometimes shy away due to compliance requirements. By making it possible to verify the state of a server on which a workload runs, SoftLayer removes one objection to vaporising workloads.

TXT can also enable geo-fencing of workloads, an application Hytrust recently turned into a product to help those whose privacy or security requirements mean cloud services must stay within a particular jurisdiction.

SoftLayer says its TXT implementation offers bare metal servers with the technology switched on, so that users keen on hybrid clouds can ensure trust the cloudy servers they are using. If a user also uses TXT in their on-premises servers, they can therefore be sure of boxes' configurations across a hybrid cloud. Servers using Intel's Xeon E5-2600 v2, Xeon E3-1200 v3 and Xeon E5-4600 currently offer the software and SoftLayer promises more to come real soon now. ®

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