It took me a while to digest Intel’s acquisition of McAfee. Other than giving Intel an opportunity to improve the desktop architecture by integrating security into chips and expanding their software footprint, this acquisition can also make a huge impact on the cloud computing architecture.

Security is one of the biggest roadblocks that customers have to address when evaluating the possibility of using cloud computing technology in their solutions. Current technology to address security concerns increase hardware, software and services costs reducing benefits gained. Project times are also increased due to the legal issues that need to be addressed before solution implementation.

These security costs could be compared to using an armored car service like Brinks to transfer cash from location to location. The weight of the armored car is so high that the gas mileage is lower than average vehicles. The drivers and security guards require stringent background checks. All these factors are built into the cost for companies like Brink’s. The end result is a higher cost of service that is shared by all users of this service.

Security concerns driven by regulations and compliance makes the use of cloud computing in health care and banking particularly painful. If security is built into the core architecture using open industry standards, it will ensure benefits are easily gained while addressing user concerns.

Appliances (a hardware/software combination) are getting very popular, including some security appliances marketed by McAfee. However, if security is built into the very fabric of a PaaS platform, users would lean towards building their SaaS solutions on such a platform.

Security in the cloud will become a game changer. There are several companies who may be ripe for acquisitions as larger players look to include security into their solutions. Intel now has the capability to build an “Intel”igent architecture that could be applied to the health care and financial services industries without the costs of an “armored car” solution.