Microsoft Network Access Protection Achieves 100-Partner Milestone

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REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 1, 2007 — More than 100 networking and security partners have pledged support for and integration with Microsoft® Network Access Protection (NAP), a policy enforcement platform built into the Windows Vista™ operating system and the upcoming version of Windows Server®, code-named “Longhorn,” Microsoft Corp. announced today. With this milestone, NAP (http://www.microsoft.com/nap) becomes the largest partner ecosystem for network access control (NAC), providing customers with a broad choice of vendors and solutions. More than 40 of these working NAP solutions will be shown to the public at next week’s RSA Conference in San Francisco.

NAP is designed to allow IT administrators to better protect network assets by enforcing compliance with system health requirements. Users can create customized policies to validate computer health before allowing access or communication, automatically update compliant computers to help ensure that compliance is ongoing, and optionally confine noncompliant computers to a restricted network until they become compliant.

During last week’s NAC Forum 2007, several Microsoft partners and customers described existing solutions. Speaking at a panel titled “NAC in the Real World” was NAP early adopter Brian T. Nichols, chief IT security and policy officer for Louisiana State University. “As soon as we installed NAP, we found that 10 percent of the workstations had out-of-date security, and some were nine months out of compliance,” Nichols said.

Next week’s RSA Conference will feature solution demonstrations by more than 40 Microsoft NAP partners. A separate Partner Pavilion will feature NAP partners Altiris Inc., Apani Networks, Applied Identity Inc., ConSentry Networks, LG N-Sys, Lockdown Networks, Nevis Networks Inc., SignaCert, SkyRecon Systems and Vernier Networks.

Microsoft will offer several demonstrations of NAP at the RSA Conference, including an example of NAP interoperation with networking equipment from Alaxala Networks Corp., Aruba Networks Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., Enterasys Networks Inc., Extreme Networks Inc., Foundry Networks Inc., Meru Networks, Nortel Networks and ProCurve Networking by HP.

“McAfee strongly supports the efforts from Microsoft to create a network access control standard that security vendors can easily adopt,” said Rees Johnson, vice president of product management at McAfee Inc. “McAfee VirusScan Enterprise works with Microsoft NAP today, providing our customers with an added layer of protection to help secure their networks and enforce security policies across their organizations.”

“The Network Access Protection ecosystem reads like a who’s who of the networking and security industries, from networking hardware vendors like Juniper and Nortel to security appliances, SSL (secure sockets layer) VPNs (virtual private networks) and other access technologies, patch management vendors, and anti-virus companies,” said Mark Ashida, general manager of Enterprise Networking Servers at Microsoft. “Together, Microsoft and its partners have built a wide array of applications and end-to-end solutions to better serve customers.”

Network Access Protection industry partners include the following:

  • A10 Networks Inc.

  • AEP Networks Inc.

  • AeroHive Networks Inc.

  • AhnLab Inc.

  • Alaxala Networks Corp.

  • Alcatel

  • Altiris Inc.

  • Apani Networks

  • Applied Identity Inc.

  • AppSense

  • Aruba Networks Inc.

  • Avanade

  • Avenda Systems Inc.

  • Aventail Corp.

  • BigFix Inc.

  • Bluesocket Inc.

  • Bradford Networks

  • Broadcom Corp.

  • CA Inc.

  • Caymas Systems Inc.

  • Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.

  • Citrix Systems Inc.

  • Configuresoft Inc.

  • ConSentry Networks

  • CounterStorm Inc.

  • Cybertrust

  • D-Link

  • eEye Digital Security

  • ENDFORCE Inc.

  • Enterasys Networks Inc.

  • Extreme Networks Inc.

  • F5 Networks Inc.

  • Fiberlink Communications Corp.

  • Force10 Networks Inc.

  • ForeScout Technologies Inc.

  • Foundry Networks Inc.

  • F-Secure Corp.

  • Huawei-3Com Technology Co. Ltd.

  • Impulse Point

  • INCA

  • Infoblox Inc.

  • InfoExpress

  • Innerwall Inc.

  • Internet Security Systems Inc.

  • Intoto Inc.

  • Inventec Corp.

  • iPass Inc.

  • iPolicy Networks Inc.

  • Juniper Networks Inc.

  • LANDesk Software Ltd.

  • LG N-Sys

  • Lockdown Networks

  • ManageSoft

  • Marvell Technology Group Ltd.

  • McAfee Inc.

  • Meru Networks

  • MetaInfo

  • Microsoft Forefront™

  • Mirage Networks

  • Nevis Networks Inc.

  • Nortel Networks

  • OPSWAT Inc.

  • Panda Software

  • PatchLink Corp.

  • Pedestal Software Inc.

  • Permeo Technologies Inc.

  • phion Information Technologies

  • PortWise

  • ProCurve Networking by HP

  • Reflex Magnetics

  • Roving Planet

  • RSA Security Inc.

  • Safend

  • SAMSUNG

  • Secure Elements

  • SecureWave

  • Shavlik Technologies LLC

  • Siemens Communications

  • SignaCert

  • SkyRecon Systems

  • SmartLine Inc.

  • SoftRun Co.

  • Soliton Systems Inc.

  • Sophos Plc.

  • St. Bernard Software

  • StillSecure

  • Symantec Corp.

  • Symbol Technologies Inc.

  • TippingPoint

  • Trapeze Networks

  • Trend Micro Inc.

  • Trust Digital

  • TTM Solutions

  • UNETsystem

  • VeriSign Inc.

  • Vernier Networks

  • VisionPower Ltd.

  • WatchGuard Technologies Inc.

  • Websense Inc.

  • Whale Communications

  • WINS Technet

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

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