Oracle this week said it will work with Intel in building a cloud computing software stack that companies can use to build public IT services and make them available over the Internet.

The collaboration involves strengthening virtual machine security in a shared cloud environment. The focus will be on developing an environment in which private data can be accessed only by authorized applications, and activities are tracked for auditing and compliance reporting, the companies said.

The technology foundation of the future work includes Intel VT and Oracle's Grid Computing software, which include the company's database, Real Application Clusters, Automatic Storage Management, Application Grid, Enterprise Manager and virtual machine. Oracle plans to leverage future hardware-based security in Intel VT to ready the software stack for use by companies looking to connect private clouds to those of partners or third-party companies offering storage, server capacity, middleware, and other services.

"Intel and Oracle are taking a leadership role to expand the reach of enterprise-ready cloud computing," Doug Fisher, VP of Intel's Software and Solutions Group, said in a statement released Tuesday at the Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco. "By collaborating to improve efficiency, extend standards and enhance security, we're making cloud computing more of an option for enterprise deployments."

On the standards front, the companies said they would work with other tech companies to create specifications for provisioning and managing cloud-based services. In addition, Intel and Oracle said they would collaborate with others in extending standards that enable portability of virtual machine images, such as the Open Virtual Format.

To help understand how other companies large and small are approaching cloud computing, InformationWeek has published an independent report on the subject. Download the report here (registration required).