* ConSentry's CS-4024 switch, and Universal Endpoint Interoperability
ConSentry is announcing a new NAC access switch for smaller sites that checks the security posture of devices before they get on networks and enforces policies based on those scans.
The CS-4024 switch has 24 Gigabit Ethernet ports available with or without Power over Ethernet and is intended to support NAC in branch offices. The device is available this fall and costs $6,000.
This can make it economically feasible to put ConSentry switches in smaller offices, which isn’t the case with its current 48-port switch.
The company is also announcing what it calls Universal Endpoint Interoperability, which enables its software to communicate with software platforms made by other vendors that secure and update computers in corporate networks.
So, for example, ConSentry gear can interrogate Symantec’s Control Compliance Suite to find out when its virus software was updated and what patches are on the machine. This data is then compared to configuration policies within the ConSentry gear to determine whether the device gets network access.
ConSentry is announcing that it can do this with or without permanent ConSentry software agents on the endpoints and for endpoints running Microsoft, Linux or McIntosh operating systems.
Universal Endpoint Interoperability works within the Microsoft network access protection (NAP) framework (the Microsoft version of NAC); the NAC architecture of Trusted Computing Group as well as individual vendors Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro; and regional vendors Criston (France) and NOSide (Japan).
ConSentry can do some of this today, but the entire range will be available this fall at the same time the CS-4024 is available.
