Microsoft plays up NAP at Interop

Network Access Control This newsletter is sponsored by Nevis Inside the industry's largest public NAC test Get an independent review of Cisco's CNAC and the Trusted Computing Group's TNC network access control frameworks via Network World's latest Editorial Briefing "Implementing NAC." Get the real scoop and go inside the industry's largest public test of available NAC products. Network World's Network Access Control Newsletter, 05/29/07 Microsoft plays up NAP at Interop By Tim Greene Microsoft made a big deal at Interop of its network access protection (NAP) software working with other vendor’s NAC gear. The company had a beta version of its Longhorn server, now being called Windows Server 2008, operating with switches made by 10 different vendors. It also showed NAP interoperating with half a dozen other vendors’ NAC policy servers. The demonstration with the switches showed off the capabilities of the NAP client working together with its NAP server, the Network Policy Server (NPS). If the machine trying to gain network access doesn’t have its Vista personal firewall turned on, the NPS will turn it on. Network World Security Buyer's Guide Find the right security products for your enterprise - fast. From anti-spam to wireless LAN security, our Buyer's Guides have detailed information on hundreds of products in more than 20 categories. With the side-by-side comparison tool you can evaluate product features to make the best decision for your enterprise. Click here to go to the Security Buyer's Guide now. The end user doesn’t have to do anything to make that happen. Some other NAC setups that found a personal firewall turned off might require the user to turn the software back on manually. Microsoft says other software vendors are working on policy modules that can run on Windows Server 2008 to increase how much data can be fed to the NPS to help it make decisions about whether to grant access. For example, rather than just tell whether antivirus software is turned on and updated, it could also tell when the software actually ran a virus scan, and the last time it found a virus. A policy could then be written that says the device should be denied access if it hasn’t been scanned within a certain period. The demos showed off some appealing features but the main drawback of NAP remains that it can’t be deployed yet because Windows Server 2008 isn’t available. It’s hard to tell whether showing off these features will build interest or frustration.   What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

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Contact the author: Tim Greene is a senior editor at Network World, covering network access control, virtual private networking gear, remote access, WAN acceleration and aspects of VoIP technology. You can reach him at tgreene@nww.com. This newsletter is sponsored by Nevis Inside the industry's largest public NAC test Get an independent review of Cisco's CNAC and the Trusted Computing Group's TNC network access control frameworks via Network World's latest Editorial Briefing "Implementing NAC." Get the real scoop and go inside the industry's largest public test of available NAC products. ARCHIVE Archive of the Network Access Control Newsletter. BONUS FEATURE IT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today. International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: security.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007