Intel and Symantec Companies are busy working on some jointly developed security products, that will use the features of virtualization technologies offered by today’s contemporary CPUs. The partnership, called “Project Hood,” is part of an effort by the two companies to expand their use of virtualization technology. In other words, future security solutions will be of software-hardware nature and will work independently of the operating system.

Instead of designing the security software to run on Microsoft Windows or another operating system, Symantec and Intel are building it so it can directly interact with the Intel chips. "It runs underneath and alongside the operating system," Symantec Vice President Rowan Trollope said on Tuesday.

Appliances are specialized computers that handle tasks such as storing data, streaming music or securing a network. However, at this time the companies’ developments are still targeted only for servers and powerful workstations. In the future these solutions are very likely to find way into the mainstream computer systems, too.