McAfee has unveiled a service designed to help organisations securely deploy virtualisation technologies.

As part of its strategy to provide a complete solution for secure virtualisation, McAfee Foundstone Professional Services also outlined a set of security guidelines covering people, processes and technology to educate enterprises adopting virtualisation technologies.

"With the popularity of virtualisation and the rush to reap its benefits, companies may not always follow the best security best practices," said Bill Hau, vice president of McAfee Foundstone Professional Services. "Many of the security practices that work in physical computing environments also work in the virtual world, yet there are some unique requirements. Our new service will help customers meet the security requirements of these new virtual environments.

"The new Foundstone Professional Services offering complements the robust security features built into VMware virtualisation software," said Brian Byun, vice president of global partners and solutions at VMware. "Together, VMware and McAfee will ensure that customers can continue to run their virtualised environments with even greater security than purely physical environments."

McAfee Foundstone Professional Services helps enterprises create, deploy and maintain virtual infrastructure. Foundstone consultants help identify and mitigate the risk to a virtual infrastructure by reviewing the people, processes and technology surrounding this virtual deployment.

"By formulating a holistic approach to people, process and technology, security professionals can be confident that their virtualisation strategy is in line with the rest of their traditional security policy," said Hau. "Organisations can now enjoy the full benefits of virtualisation with enhanced security by taking a risk based approach. This is not only recommended but critical when making any such large and revolutionary changes."