Intel Security is the latest to partner for VMware NSX. On Wednesday, the wholly owned Intel subsidiary formerly known as McAfee will launch a new integration with NSX for its Intel Security Controller, a data center security orchestrator.

Intel describes its controller as a platform for automating and orchestrating its security services in virtualized data centers. In the partnership with NSX, Intel's security controller will orchestrate deep-packet inspection capabilities at the hypervisor level, where they can monitor east-west traffic on a per-workload basis.

The goal is to start provisioning security tools with the same automation that NSX brings to workload provisioning, says Vinay Anand, Intel Security's vice president of product management. The virtual security appliances Intel Security Controller manages have a throughput ranging from 500 Mb/s to 1 Gb/s. That might sound wimpy at first blush, but remember, those numbers are for each hypervisor.

The integrated product already has one named customer in ClearDATA, a healthcare cloud provider.

Asked whether a similar integration was in the works with Cisco's Application-Centric Infrastructure (ACI) — the main competitor to NSX — Anand demurred, saying merely that Intel Security has other partnerships in the works. "We've noticed in the enterprise customer base, VMware is by and large No. 1 in the virtualized data center market," he said.

VMware's Rod Stuhlmuller, a senior director of product marketing, minced fewer words. "You can't even do this with ACI," he said. "Five hundred megs to 1 gig on each hypervisor — ACI just doesn't have the capacity to look at the traffic that's going in this east-west direction."

Cisco begs to differ on that of course. "There really is no practical limit for the security throughput," says Thomas Scheibe, director of product management for Cisco's Insieme business unit. "You can have as many distributed virtual or physical security devices to give you all the throughput you need."

In an interview with SDxCentral, both Intel Security's Anand and VMware's Stuhlmuller jockeyed to describe their respective products as a platform play.

"We create the automation distribution platform," says Stuhlmuller of NSX. Anand hastened to add: "The Intel Security Controller is going to be a platform on which we'll be delivering additional security services."

The two agreed on one point though. "We have no plans to do what Intel Security does," says Stuhlmuller. "That's why it's such a good partnership."