Microsoft executives on Tuesday outlined the software giant"s vision for providing secure anytime, anywhere access to applications and introduced a new technology partnership to help customers fortify online security. Chairman Bill Gates and Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie shared the stage for the opening keynote of the RSA Conference in San Francisco, addressing about 4,000 of the show"s expected 15,000 attendees. Customers need to provide users with anytime, anywhere access to applications and resources while making sure that access is granted only to the information that is appropriate for that user.
The duo held out two Internet standards -- IPSec and the next generation of the Internet Protocol, IPv6 -- as key technologies that will enable the granular, policy-based security environments needed to support customers" evolving security needs. "The ability to pick who connects to whom, to insist on a certificate for some proof of who the endpoints are, those are foundational pieces," Gates said of the capabilities that IPSec, along with IPv6, provide.