Windows Azure Session at Cloud Expo

In my efforts to read the room properly, I dropped a reference to Tom Wolf's "The Right Stuff" into the headline for this story; more specifically, a reference to the 1984 movie based on Wolf's book.

Remember, this was the movie that, through the heroic, captivating portrayal of John Glenn by Ed Harris, was going to launch the Ohio astronaut and senator into the White House. Turned out that Glenn was more the plodding Presbyterian of Wolf's book than the charismatic publicity hog of the movie, and so Walter Mondale was instead served up as the hapless obstacle in the way of Ronald Reagan's re-election.

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My guess is that, given the architectural nature of Cloud Computng, that the reading audience for Cloud-related material will remember these events. If not, sorry.

In any case, it is Microsoft that is working with Germans today, specifically with the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems in Berlin, "on an interoperability prototype project integrating U-Prove and the Microsoft identity platform with the German government's future use of electronic identity cards." The overarching goal of this effort is to "complete Microsoft's End to End Trust vision," according to a recent release.

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This applies to cloud computing, according to Redmon's Scott Charney, VP of the company's Trustworthy Computing Group. "End to End Trust is our vision for realizing a safer, more trusted Internet," said Charney. "To enable trust inside, and outside, of cloud computing environments will require security and privacy fundamentals, technology innovations, and social, economic, political and IT alignment."

Charney says that identity solutions "that provide more secure and private access to both on-site and cloud applications are key to enabling a safer, more trusted enterprise and Internet. As part of that effort, Microsoft today released a community technology preview of the U-Prove technology, which enables online providers to better protect privacy and enhance security through the minimal disclosure of information in online transactions. "

Microsoft released its Forefront Identity Manager 2010 at the recent RSA conference as part of its overall effort, as well as its "Operation b49, a Microsoft-led initiative to neutralize the well-known Waledac botnet." Charney says. "While focusing on security and privacy fundamentals and threat mitigation remains necessary, the industry needs to be more aggressive in blunting the impact of cybercriminals. Operation b49 is an example of how the private sector can get more creative in its collective approach to fighting criminals online."