SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan. 17, 2000 — Today at the RSA Conference 2000 in San Jose, Microsoft Corp. announced that it has joined Cisco Systems Inc.’s Security Associate Program, demonstrating commitment for interoperability of the Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Professional and Server operating systems with Cisco Secure network security solutions.
Customers benefit from the security innovations that Microsoft has built into Windows 2000, including native Kerberos implementation, an encrypting file system, an easy-to-manage public key infrastructure (PKI), extensible authentication device support, encrypted end-to-end communications and secure virtual private networking (VPN). Joining the Cisco Security Associate Program is a natural extension of Microsoft’s commitment to security, which is embodied in the features of its highly anticipated operating system. The objective of the Cisco Security Associate Program is to ease deployment for customers of third-party security products by fully testing and verifying them for complete interoperation with Cisco Secure offerings.
“We designed Windows 2000 with security as a key development goal, and we believe that it will be the most secure operating system that Microsoft has ever shipped,”
said Brian Valentine, senior vice president of the Windows Division at Microsoft.
“Our collaboration with security leaders, such as Cisco, enabled us to build a product that will meet, and exceed, our customers’ network security needs. Our mutual customers benefit from the experience and innovation that Cisco has brought to Windows 2000 and from our involvement in the Cisco Security Associate Program.”
“Microsoft and Cisco are working with the industry to change the way security is done in the enterprise, and Windows 2000 extends those efforts by providing more security features for network environments,”
said Elizabeth Kaufman, senior director of the Security Internet Services Unit at Cisco.
“We are pleased to welcome Microsoft into the Cisco Security Associate Program and will continue to collaborate to meet our customers’ network security needs.”
Microsoft and Cisco have historically partnered to advance network security, jointly developing the IP Security Protocol (IPSec) implementation for Windows 2000 and Cisco IOS Ò Software, to ensure full standards-based interoperability. In addition, Microsoft and Cisco have worked closely to integrate support for the Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol (SCEP) into Microsoft’s Certificate Server, making it interoperable with all of Cisco’s certificate-enabled security solutions. Using SCEP, organizations can take advantage of advanced certificate services optionally available in the Windows 2000 Resource Kit to enroll routers using Cisco IOS Software.
About Windows 2000
Windows 2000 will enable the next generation of PC computing by providing customers with the easy way to Internet-enable their business using the integrated Web application services, increased scalability and industry-standard security. Windows 2000 will provide a more reliable platform designed for increased system uptime and a more manageable operating system to lower desktop management costs, and will offer more centralized management for servers. In addition, Windows 2000 will enable knowledge workers to take advantage of new devices.
Availability
General availability of Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2000 Advanced Server is scheduled to begin Feb. 17, 2000. Windows 2000 Datacenter Server is expected to be available later this year.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software – any time, any place and on any device
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