* Is security the most important feature in LAN gear?
There’s a story in this week’s Network World that caught my eye – it goes to the heart of the hype around adding security features to LAN equipment.
The story relates the results of a survey by Infonetics Research, which showed that the primary advanced feature that IT execs look for in a LAN switch is security – more than Power over Ethernet, more than VoIP support, more than wireless LAN management.
Granted, the survey focused on organizations that are very large. The average number of employees at these places is 25,000. The average amount these organizations are planning to spend next year on LAN equipment is $711,000.
That leads me to wonder how much IT managers at smaller organizations want security in their LAN gear – and how much security ought to go into the LAN switches themselves.
Certainly, the network hardware vendors are pushing hard. Alcatel, Enterasys and Nortel are all over this – and those are just early examples. Of course Cisco is rallying security vendors around its flag.
Some would argue that these security efforts are really just a way for vendors to accomplish two things – capitalize on the security craze that’s (justifiably) permeating our industry these days and further lock users into using one vendor for all their LAN gear in the future.
What do you think? Let me know the size of your organization and whether you’re ready to spend money on advanced security features for your LAN switches. E-mail me and I’ll share the responses in a future article.
