se. The CloudSwitch software creates compatibility between an application's characteristics and the cloud provider's addressing schemes, methods of packaging memory and storage, and type of network access. Network access refers to how corporations connect to the cloud. For security purposes, CloudSwitch provides Virtual Private Network (VPN) software. (Verizon Communications purchased CloudSwitch in August 2011.) The VPN creates a secure link between the cloud and the customer by encrypting data and providing a way to securely re-create the data at the receiving end. It also ensures that the data exchanged is formatted SO that it is not blocked by firewalls at either end. The software also makes the addressing formats compatible between the cloud's infrastructure and the customer's data center, and vice versa. Another layer of complexity is that all applications are coded to a particular oper- ating system, and operating systems are dependent on the resident hardware charac- teristics. Without changes, some applications might not be compatible with hardware located in a provider's data centers. The CloudSwitch software, transparent to custom- ers and cloud providers, creates compatibility between operating systems, hardware, and applications. John Considine, CloudSwitch founder and chief technology officer, explained the company's philosophy in an interview: We are focused on not forcing the enterprise to abandon the way they do things when they use cloud computing. So when we started CloudSwitch, we focused on what is called hybrid computing: the blending of your IT resources with cloud computing. Another thing we work on is once you bring the application into the cloud, how do you work with it within your existing data center? How do you allow data residing in the cloud Single Servers Functioning as Multiple Servers via Virtualization to work with what's already in your data center? Our software gathers up applications to place in the cloud, configures the storage required, and protects data using security prot