Opening Up Secure Network Access

"Business executives are extremely concerned (and rightly so) that their organization may be the next publicly disclosed data breach story in the Wall Street Journal." That's how I led off a recent article, co-authored with Jon Oltsik of the Enterprise Strategy Group, on network access control (aka secure network access).

Secure network access authenticates users wanting to access the network, performs endpoint health checks, and authorizes network and application access based on role-based policies.

Network access control tied to one vendor's switching platform has been used as part of a lock-in strategy by network vendors. In a hyperconnected world, the last thing you want is a 'closed' access control strategy.

We, at Nortel, are taking a very different 'open' approach, which has been recognized with a Gold Award from SecureNetworking.com.

Our approach, just released as Nortel SNA 2.0,
• provides a common architecture across environments (LAN, WLAN, VPN),
• supports Nortel and non-Nortel switches (including those from Cisco and HP),
• works across desktop platforms including Windows, Linux and MacOS, IP phones and printers,
• seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Network Access Protection on both the client and server sides, and
• adheres to the Trusted Computing Group's Trusted Connect specifications.

So enhance your security while opening up to multi-vendor solutions.

Almost forgot! Did I mention that independent testing has also found the energy consumption of the Nortel SNA 4050 is 63% less than that of the Cisco solution (Clean Access 3310 Manager and Server)? Why am I not surprised? The Cisco energy tax is pervasive.

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Why are the Nortel current SNA products being compared to Cisco products that have been EOL'd/EOS'd within the Tolly Group report?

And, why didn't the Tolly Group point that out?

..............TonyRyb replies: The Cisco Clean Access (Cisco NAC Appliance) 3310 is not EOL’d, and is still on their web site- the 3310 Bundles are EOL’d/EOS’d (but not the product itself). In any case, in accounts where we are doing bake-offs, customers are currently comparing our SNAS to the Cisco Clean Access 3310, making the comparison is relevant and current.

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