Virtualisation provider VMware partners with AMD, Samsung, and RISC-V to advance open source Certifier Framework for confidential computing, enhancing data security and fostering industry collaboration.
Virtualisation technology provider VMware has exciting news for the world of confidential computing. The company has announced strategic partnerships with AMD, Samsung, and members of the RISC-V keystone community. Together, they aim to revolutionise the development and operations of confidential computing applications through the open source Certifier Framework project.
Confidential computing, a burgeoning discipline, focuses on safeguarding data while it is actively being used, going beyond conventional encryption methods. By utilising hardware-based Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), confidential computing ensures the security of data during processing, effectively shielding applications and sensitive information from unauthorised access or tampering.
However, lacking comprehensive knowledge and expertise in this field has hindered widespread adoption. While companies like Intel have made strides in providing necessary hardware components, software and cloud providers have faced challenges in developing and operating confidential computing applications.
In response, VMware’s Certifier Framework emerges as a beacon of promise. It offers a comprehensive solution to address these challenges and empower independent software vendors (ISVs), enterprise customers, and sovereign cloud providers to leverage confidential computing technology effectively.
According to Kit Colbert, VMware’s CTO, the collective efforts of the contributors to the Certifier Framework will significantly ease the adoption and implementation of confidential computing, enabling ISVs, enterprise customers, and sovereign cloud providers to utilise the technology more efficiently and securely.
The Certifier Framework comprises two vital components: an application development library with powerful APIs and a scalable certification service. The APIs provide a suite of programming interfaces that simplify porting existing applications or creating new ones. Meanwhile, the certification service evaluates policy and effectively manages trust relationships among systems.
At the highly anticipated Confidential Computing Summit 2023, VMware recently demonstrated the Certifier Framework’s prowess. The platform showcased “universal” client-cloud trust management capabilities across a range of TEEs, including AMD’s Secure Encrypted Virtualisation-Secure Nested Paging (SEV-SNP), Intel’s SGX data protection technology, Arm Confidential Computing Architecture (CCA), and RISC-V.
With continued development and innovation within the Certifier Framework, organisations handling sensitive or regulated data will enjoy enhanced security measures and be better equipped to address the ever-evolving challenges of the digital landscape.
