HPE has a go at creating a security USP

HPE has announced the launch of its ProLiant portfolio, claiming to be the first vendor to put silicon-based security into its industry standard servers.

As part of the solution, the team has developed what it has coined the ‘silicon root of trust’, a link between the custom HPE silicon and the HPE Integrated Lights Out (iLO) firmware to ensure servers do not execute compromised firmware code. The feature essentially prevents servers from booting up unless the firmware matches the required fingerprint.

“Customers shouldn’t have to compromise when it comes to security, the agility of software-defined infrastructure and the flexibility of cloud economics,” said Alain Andreoli, GM of the Data Center Infrastructure Group at Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

“With our ProLiant Gen10 portfolio, HPE is offering customers the best compute experience in the industry with unmatched security, new ways to accelerate insights and payment models that allow0020customers to choose options that work best for them.”

The team has also introduced a number of enhancements to its software-defined infrastructure and flexible payment models, meaning customers only pay for what they use. It’s the scale up, scale down idea which we have heard before, but it does allow security teams to be more proactive in their approach. Prioritization can be made to different areas, meaning there is no longer a blanket approach to security; concentrate on the most sensitive areas to make a more proactive approach to security, bringing it into the 21^st century.

Security as a ‘USP’ shouldn’t really come as a surprise as we enter into the summer months and a period of time where there are a lack of tradeshows. Security is a critical aspect of every aspect of the network and IT strategies, though it is an immensely difficult feature to demonstrate. It is also an area which is almost impossible to stay constantly relevant in.

Every update which is made by an organization is essentially a challenge to the criminal underbelly, which operates in the shadows of the internet. It’s a thankless task, and thus one which is very difficult to communicate to the industry without the fear of embarrassment. Over the next couple of months we are likely to see numerous security updates and promises, though a sceptic would comment once MWC starts to loom larger, ‘sexier’ and more demonstrable topic such as machine learning will take front seat once again.