Since the merger between Intel and McAfee, there is talk of the two planning on a cloud computer security network that will be built into new systems.

Jason Waxman, general manager of Intel's Cloud Infrastructure Group, said that over the last year or so he'd been inundated with questions about what Intel was going to do with McAfee since it lashed out $7.68bn for the security firm, during an industry-wide buying spree on cyber-security companies.

Mixing hardware and software, Intel is planning a cloud to desktop security strategy, in a federated framework designed to make cloud computing safer and thereby locking down the desktop, giving IT managers another reason to specify Intel's systems during any upgrade cycle.

"I think, of the public cloud providers, there are many that are doing an excellent job at security," he said. "In fact, when I look at how enterprises do they are as good if not better. But the reality is that there's a perception of poor security."

Intel wants to mate its Trusted Execution Technology (TET) that's built into the Xeon E5 processor family with software controls from McAfee. The chipset will work with McAfee's ePolicy Orchestrator to analyze networks and enforce policy while updating and protecting the larger environment.

Also just released is a new anti-virus tool for the Cloud, called McAfee Management for Optimized Virtual Environments Antivirus. This seeks out malware and uses application controls to limit infection spread and downtime, while pushing out updates as and when they are needed. A connections manager also monitors data entering and leaving the data center for signs of infection.