At the same time, the company has also announced its support for the new security guidance outlines from the Cloud Security Alliance.

Sun's approach with cloud security centres on a series of `building block' applications that it said will secure customer's data whilst in transit to and from the cloud, as well as data at rest and data in active use within the cloud environment.

Rather than offer the applications to clients and leaving them to get on with the task of integrating them with cloud services, however, Sun is customising the software to work with mainstream cloud service providers such as Amazon and Eucalyptus.

In parallel with the strategy, Sun has also unveiled a number of open source cloud security tools such as OpenSolaris VPC Gateway, Immutable Service Containers (ISC), Security Enhanced Virtual Machine Images (VMIs) and Cloud Safety Box.

OpenSolaris VPC Gateway is billed as allowing customers a range of options when connecting to the Amazon virtual private cloud (VPC), including the ability to operate a secure VPN into the cloud without the need for dedicated networking hardware.

ISC, meanwhile, allows companies to create virtual machines with security protection and monitoring capabilities on the Solaris operating system platforms.

Announcing the new open source cloud options, Lew Tucker Sun's chief technology officer, said that Sun's technologies, best practices and work with leading industry organisations like the Cloud Security Alliance help provide its customers with a framework for securing data in cloud environments.

According to Tucker, Sun has published a white paper - entitled `Building Customer Trust in Cloud Computing with Transparent Security.'

The white paper is said to provide an overview of the ways in which intelligent disclosure of security design, practices and procedures can help improve customer confidence, whilst at the same time protecting IT systems and ensuring adherence to corporate governance standards.