Las Vegas, Nev. - December 1, 2009 - Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), the organization bringing the IT industry together to collaborate on systems management standards development, validation, promotion and adoption, today announced that it will partner with the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) to promote standards for cloud security as part of the ongoing work within the DMTF Open Cloud Standards Incubator. The two groups will collaborate on best practices for managing security within the cloud.

CSA is a non-profit organization, which was formed to promote the use of best practices for providing security assurance within cloud computing, and to educate the industry about the use of cloud computing to help secure other forms of computing. CSA's membership comprises subject experts from throughout the IT industry.

As DMTF develops its requirements for secure cloud management, it will work with the CSA to utilize best practices and feedback to improve the security, privacy and trust of cloud computing. Both organizations plan to adopt appropriate existing standards, and assist and support recognized bodies that are developing new standards appropriate for cloud computing. Together they will promote a common level of understanding between the consumers and providers of cloud computing regarding necessary security. This partnership will help ensure alignment within the cloud computing industry.

"DMTF is excited to be partnering with CSA to encourage standards for cloud security," said Winston Bumpus, DMTF president. "The DMTF Open Cloud Standards Incubator has identified security as a key area of focus for standardization within the cloud. We believe this collaboration with CSA will help improve upon and benefit all levels of cloud security standards."

"This partnership will enable the CSA and DMTF to continue leading the industry in the development of interoperable standards for the cloud," said Jim Reavis, Executive Director and Co-founder of the CSA. "Both organizations have exhibited expertise in cloud computing, making this a unique opportunity for establishing industry standards, and coordinating requirements and best practices."

The partnership between DMTF and CSA was established as part of the DMTF Alliance Partner program, which enables formalized coordination with other standards development organizations. Click here for more information.

More information about DMTF's work on cloud computing is available at www.dmtf.org/cloud

About Cloud Security Alliance
The Cloud Security Alliance is a not-for profit organization with a mission to promote the use of best practices for providing security assurance within Cloud Computing, and to provide education on the uses of Cloud Computing to help secure all other forms of computing. The Cloud Security Alliance is led by a broad coalition of industry leaders, global associations and expert practitioners. For further information, the Cloud Security Alliance web site is www.cloudsecurityalliance.org

About DMTF
DMTF enables more effective management of millions of IT systems worldwide by bringing the IT industry together to collaborate on the development, validation and promotion of systems management standards. The group spans the industry with 160 member companies and organizations, and more than 4,000 active participants crossing 43 countries. The DMTF board of directors is led by 16 innovative, industry-leading technology companies. They include Advanced Micro Devices (AMD); Broadcom Corporation; CA , Inc.; Citrix Systems, Inc.; Dell; EMC; Fujitsu; HP; Hitachi, Ltd.; IBM; Intel Corporation; Microsoft Corporation; Novell; Oracle; Sun Microsystems, Inc. and VMware, Inc. With this deep and broad reach, DMTF creates standards that enable interoperable IT management. DMTF management standards are critical to enabling management interoperability among multi-vendor systems, tools and solutions within the enterprise. Information about DMTF technologies and activities can be found at http://www.dmtf.org