As social networking surpasses email, and next-generation internet and applications emerge, “people are changing not only what they are doing online, but how they are doing it”, he said.
“For the first time, we have seen an instance of PC shipping numbers dropping, as we move into the year of the tabloid. This is one of the most exciting technology opportunities of our time”, Benioff argued, as he explained his belief that security and innovation are very closely linked”.
Salesforce.com, and its launch of ‘Chatter’ – a Cloud 2 initiative, a collaboration application for the enterprise to connect and share information securely with people at work in real-time, “is moving us into a social, mobile, more open cloud. The new question we should be asking is ‘why isn’t all enterprise software like Facebook’?”
Salesforce.com is answering this question by doing exactly that. “We are moving into Cloud 2, a next-generation database environment in the cloud, always thinking about how security will impact”. The salesforce.com chatter app, demonstrated by the company’s VP marketing, looks exactly like Facebook, but for internal use. It allows users to share business updates, documents, agendas, contracts, etc, with flexible access rights. “The feed is the new method of collaboration”, Benioff said.
Jim Cavalieri, chief trust officer, salesforce.com, explained that it is essential that Cloud 2 is secure, private and reliable, in addition to being available. “Compliance is important to us”, he insisted, listing salesforce.com’s certifications and audit accreditations.
Salesforce.com, insisted Cavalieri, “does a lot to create a secure infrastructure for you. We are effectively an extended part of your information security and IT team”.
This security effort includes facility security (physical security), network security, mobile security and application and access security, Cavalieri listed. More specifically, “operational security, security monitoring, incident handling and vulnerability assessments” are all part of the salesforce.com offering.
“We focus on constant security validation and improvement”, Cavalieri said. “Security needs to be a partnership between the customer and us.”
The Cloud Security Summit took place at the Moscone Centre, in collaboration with the RSA Conference.