Bradford Networks is addressing one of the most common tasks customers set for their NAC gear: controlling the access of guests on corporate networks.

NAC Director Guest Contractor Services (GCS) is a new appliance from Bradford that enables designated employees to set up temporary access for visitors and contractors, relieving IT staff from the chore.

Access rights for these individuals can be stored within GCS itself or GCS can tap Active Directory, LDAP or RADIUS directories to determine what level of access to grant. GSC is an expansion of Bradford’s NAC Director gear.

GCS can authenticate users and also the machine they are using to access the network. It can also assess the machine for compliance with security policies using a temporary agent that uninstalls when the machine disconnects from the network.

So if a device is not owned by a company, GCS could reject it from gaining access or direct it to a limited virtual LAN (VLAN). With further assessment by the agent, it could grant access to a less restrictive VLAN to enable consultants, for example, access to resources they need to do the work they were hired to do.

A software upgrade for the device turns it into a full NAC Director with capabilities to monitor traffic and to enforce behavioral policies via access switches. The full NAC Director already had guest capabilities, but the company says customers wanted to be able to make simple yes-no determinations about guests and contractors.

NAC Director GCS is available this summer and costs $8,000 for an appliance with a license for 250 users, 50 of them guest contractors. Upgrading to a full NAC Director costs about 40% more, the company says.

Tim Greene is senior editor at Network World.