1. A computer program product for use within a data processing system for virtualizing trusted platform modules, the computer program product comprising: a computer-readable storage medium; instructions residing in said storage medium for receiving at a physical trusted platform module from a requesting entity a request to create a virtual trusted platform module; instructions residing in said storage medium for creating a virtual trusted platform module by the physical trusted platform module, wherein the virtual trusted platform module has a transitive trust relationship with the physical trusted platform module; instructions residing in said storage medium for sending a response to the requesting entity; and instructions residing in said storage medium for associating the virtual trusted platform module with a partition in a partitionable runtime environment within the data processing system.