Extreme, Foundry, others support Microsoft's NAP

List of supporters of Microsoft NAP security technology

Earlier this month at the RSA conference, vendors such as Extreme Networks and Foundry Networks demonstrated their support of Microsoft's Network Access Protection, or NAP.

NAP is Microsoft's try at what is generally called network access control, or NAC (see our newsletter on the topic), which refers to products that try to guard the edges of corporate LANs from clients that have no business connecting to the networks. That is, they make sure that only computers that meet specific security policies are allowed access.

Extreme said it was expanding its support of NAP in the latest version of ExtremeXOS software for its network switches. It uses authentication based on the IEEE 802.1x standard. The software gives the switches the ability to automatically quarantine any endpoints that don't meet security guidelines while also allowing those endpoints to access remediation servers specified by the NAP policy server.

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Earlier this month at the RSA conference, vendors such as Extreme Networks and Foundry Networks demonstrated their support of Microsoft's Network Access Protection, or NAP.

NAP is Microsoft's try at what is generally called network access control, or NAC (see our newsletter on the topic), which refers to products that try to guard the edges of corporate LANs from clients that have no business connecting to the networks. That is, they make sure that only computers that meet specific security policies are allowed access.

Extreme said it was expanding its support of NAP in the latest version of ExtremeXOS software for its network switches. It uses authentication based on the IEEE 802.1x standard. The software gives the switches the ability to automatically quarantine any endpoints that don't meet security guidelines while also allowing those endpoints to access remediation servers specified by the NAP policy server.

Meanwhile, Foundry made similar claims, saying its FastIron edge switches work with Windows Vista clients and Microsoft network policy servers to support NAP. The company also said its switches will use 802.1x port-based access control.

The two companies are apparently joining a larger movement toward NAP. Microsoft published a Q&A with Ben Fathi, corporate vice president of development for Microsoft’s Windows Core Operating System Division, in which he said:

"In the network area, more than 100 networking and security partners have pledged support and integration with Microsoft NAP, a policy enforcement platform built into Microsoft Windows Vista and the next version of Windows Server, codenamed 'Longhorn'… Partners such as Lockdown Systems, Nevis Networks and ConSentry Networks are demonstrating more than 40 of these working NAP solutions in the Microsoft NAP Pavilion at RSA. In addition, we’re working with other NAP partners such as Alcatel, Citrix, Cybertrust, Juniper, McAfee, Samsung, Symantec and Trend Micro, who have their own presence at RSA. Microsoft is working closely with other key players in this space, such as Cisco and the Trusted Computing Group. Last year, we announced an interoperable architecture between Microsoft NAP and Cisco’s Network Admission Control, and we have customers that are currently testing this integrated solution in their networks."

Read more about lans & wans in Network World's LANs & WANs section.