The Machine, HP Labs’ radical new approach to large-scale, high-performance computing infrastructure, “will let us take advantage of – rather than be overtaken by – the coming data explosion,” argues Simon Shiu, senior research manager in HP’s Security and Cloud Lab.
“And as we’re creating this new kind of architecture, we have the chance to rethink some of the fundamentals of infrastructure design” he notes. “One of the most valuable things that we can do differently is to build in security from the start – and that’s an opportunity we’re taking.”
In a talk he’ll be presenting at HP Discover 2014 Barcelona on December 2nd,
Shiu will share how HP Labs researchers are placing security at the heart of The Machine, so that businesses are assured control, privacy, monitoring, and full recovery of their systems and data in the era of Big Data.
The Labs’ approach doesn’t come down to a single solution. “The Machine will be deployed in many different situations and each will have a different security model,” Shiu explains. “But they will share an architectural framework for how we ensure security across these various scenarios and that’s one thing I’ll discuss.”
Shiu’s talk will begin with a look at the issues we face with security today. One well understood challenge with networks like the Internet, for example, is that they weren’t initially designed with security in mind. “We’re still constantly putting security workarounds and protocols after the fact,” Shiu notes, “which is why it’s so exciting to be to building security in into this new infrastructure from the start.”
Doing that presents its own challenges, though. “In re-conceptualizing our hardware architecture and the way software runs on it, we’re bypassing many other traditional points of control as well,” Shiu says. “We have to re-think our security control points to enable new systems with the kind of scale and complexity, but also the data protection, that we need.”
Discover attendees can hear Shiu’s talk on Tuesday, December 2nd, from 9:45 to 10:15 AM in the Discover Theater.
