Enterasys Networks this week said it added policies to its switches, routers and management products to support virtualized data centers.

The company’s Secure Networks for Virtual Data Centers system is essentially software intelligence for Enterasys’ Matrix N-Series and X-Series switches and routers, Dragon security applications and NetSight management system designed to monitor and manage the dynamic mobility of virtual machines. This, in turn, lets customers enforce network access control policies; and comply with internal, industry or government regulations.

Securing virtual environments has emerged as a key concern among IT organizations. Virtual servers are not only prone to the same attacks as physical servers but to new ones opened up by virtualization technology, experts say.

Similarly, management of virtual environments also raises a unique set of challenges, some of which escape IT organizations until they’ve already invested and implemented virtual machine environments.

Enterasys’ Secure Networks for Virtual Data Centers is intended to address these issues. The policies enable, for example, an Enterasys Matrix N-Series switch to discover, authenticate and prioritize up to 1,000 virtual machines attached to a single Gigabit or 10 Gigabit Ethernet network interface, Enterasys says.

With the new policies, the N-Series switches enable virtual machine mobility without manual reconfiguration of network interfaces on the physical server or network device -- policies adapt on-demand, Enterasys says, even in the event of a physical server or virtual machine failure. Enterasys Matrix N-Series switches also separately secure and prioritize each virtual machine connected to a single network interface to provide flow-based visibility and control over individual voice, video and data conversations for each user and application, Enterasys says.

The new policies also allow Enterasys NetSight software to perform real-time location of a virtual machine and associated application services, as well as provide an audit history of its mobility, Enterasys says.

Enterasys Virtual Data Center is available immediately. Pricing starts at $19,500, which includes 48 ports of Gigabit Ethernet data center connectivity.