Scott Weiss is right when he says that adding reputation to Cisco's security gear is important. And Cisco is right about giving over control of its classic security gear - firewalls, VPNs, IPSes - to Weiss, who was brought into Cisco about a year ago when Cisco bought Ironport. Now Weiss says he wants to cross-pollenate engineers from his former company and Cisco's security engineers to see what they can come up with.

He's starting with a clean slate and hasn't ruled out discontinuing products if it makes strategic sense, so the impact could be dramatic. In the meantime the reputation/firewall combo has been good for others. Secure Computing, for instance, is talking up how the reputation services it has (spawned as an anti-spam method for IronMail) enhances its Web gateway (Webwasher) and Firewall (Sidewinder) for Web 2.0 protection. Obviously, all the other security players have similar marketing stories to tell. Symantec's CEO's verbal spars at Cisco showcases how even the biggest in the security field view Cisco as a major rival.

More from Cisco Subnet:

Cisco (finally) moves to stop exam cheating
Linux and Cisco -- convergence versus low-cost
What not to love about Cisco routers as Linux app servers
Cisco partners must grow Cisco reseller business by $20B
Cisco drops plans to beta CCDE practical exam
CCNP lab essentials
Jeff Doyle: Understanding MPLS

Go to Cisco Subnet for more Cisco news, blogs, discussion forums, security alerts, book giveaways, and more.

Click to read the article this is in response to.