Gaining confidence from government buyers, which sometimes require Common Criteria certification in products, is clearly the goal in putting vSphere 5.0 through the test process.

VMware indicated it expects the EAL4+ rating of VSphere to boost its acceptance for cloud-computing purposes in the U.S. and elsewhere, where concerns about virtual-machine cloud security are rampant.

" is a top priority for CIOs of government IT organizations," says Aileen Black, vice president, public sector, at VMware. The successful Common Criteria testing of VSphere 5.0 underscores that it is a platform that "government organizations can trust," she says.

Ellen Messmer is senior editor at Network World, an IDG publication and website, where she covers news and technology trends related to information security.

in Network World's Data Center section.