Illumio Cloud Security Startup Has VMware Flavor

Two key executives with VMware (VMW) ties are now working at Illumio, a cloud security startup founded in January, 2013, backed by $8 million in funding and currently in stealth mode.

Alan Cohen, a former Cisco Systems (CSCO) exec who moved to software defined networking vendor Nicira in 2011 prior to its acquisition by VMware a year ago, apparently has landed at Illumio as chief commercial officer, according to an AllThingsD report. In addition, Ben Verghese, a former VMware chief management architect and vice president, now is toiling as Illumio’s engineering vice president.

As is common with stealth mode companies, you don’t get to know a whole lot until they emerge, which certainly is true with Illumio. According to a slim profile on the company at venture backer Andreessen Horowitz’s website, Illumio’s founders are Andrew Rubin, formerly security vendor Cymtec Systems’ chief executive; PJ Kirner, former Cymtec chief technology officer and distinguished engineer at Juniper (JNPR); and Alan Stokol, a former Juniper and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) executive.

As for its 12 employees, Illumio only notes on its website, “We are veterans with deep experience in virtualization, networking and security hailing from industry leaders such as VMware, Cisco, Juniper and Nicira.”

Illumio provides a few clues on its web site about what it’s up to, the most telling of which (although that’s not saying much) is defining its mission as undertaking “the biggest challenge holding back enterprise adoption of cloud computing.”

What might that be? One reasonable guess is Illumio is trying to conquer enterprise’s biggest worry about the cloud—securing sensitive data stored in the cloud, an issue still very much in play. Inasmuch as Illumio’s website mentions three technologies—virtualization, cloud and security—it’s not too much of a stretch to surmise it intends to build technology to provide a heightened level of security for virtualized environments.