Cisco Announces Availability of Network Admission Control Solutions.SAN JOSE San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. , Calif. -- Offers Support on Access and Midrange Cisco IOS Cisco IOS (originally Internetwork Operating System) is the software used on the vast majority of Cisco Systems routers and all current Cisco network switches. IOS is a package of routing, switching, internetworking and telecommunications functions tightly integrated with a Routers, Broadens Vendor Integration Program and Delivers Advanced NAC See network access control. Implementation Services Cisco Systems “Cisco” redirects here. For other uses, see Cisco (disambiguation). Cisco System,Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO, HKSE: 4333 ) is an American multinational corporation with 54,000 employees and annual revenue of US $28.48 billion as of 2006. , Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO CSCO Cisco Systems Incorporated (stock symbol) CSCO Chief Supply Chain Officer ), today announced the availability of solutions delivered through its Network Admission Control (NAC) program, which help customers extend their existing network systems to defend against viruses and worms. Combined with a broadened vendor integration program and new Advanced Services for NAC implementations, customers will be able to more quickly deploy these threat-defense capabilities into their networks. The NAC program, which was first announced in November 2003, now supports the Cisco(R) 830 Series to Cisco 7200 Series access and midrange Cisco IOS(R) Software-based routing platforms as well as Cisco network security management and access products (see "Pricing and Availability" section below), to help enforce network access privileges based on endpoint security information. A key component of the NAC program is the Cisco Trust Agent software, which resides on desktop and server endpoints and collects security state information from multiple third-party security software clients such as antivirus clients. The Cisco Trust Agent software communicates this information to the Cisco network where network-access-control decisions are made and enforced. To facilitate deployment, Cisco Trust Agent software is available integrated with the Cisco Security Agent Cisco Security Agent (CSA) is an endpoint intrusion prevention system made originally by Okena (formerly named StormWatch Agent) , which was bought by Cisco Systems in 2003. , an endpoint security solution to prevent day-zero and other attacks, to help ensure endpoint-operating-system patch compliance. "Complex and ever-changing security threats require a systems-level approach and industry collaboration to dynamically protect networked business-critical resources," said Ken Kucera, senior vice president of First National Bank. "The Cisco Network Admission Control program lets us use the network in our endpoint-validation efforts to audit and enforce our endpoint-security policies, and reduce our risk to potential damages caused by worms and viruses." Cisco Systems(R) has defined the architecture and specifications of the NAC program in collaboration with leading antivirus software See antivirus program. (tool) antivirus software - Programs to detect and remove computer viruses. The simplest kind scans executable files and boot blocks for a list of known viruses. companies including Network Associates, Symantec and Trend Micro, as well as leading network- and system-management vendors such as IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) . Cisco is licensing its Cisco Trust Agent technology to NAC co-sponsors Antivirus products that include support for Cisco Trust Agent include Network Associates' McAfee(R) VirusScan(R) Enterprise 8.0i and McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 7.x, upcoming versions of Symantec Client Security and Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition, and the Trend Micro OfficeScan Corporate Edition v6.5. Cisco is also introducing a NAC vendor integration program, to help provide broader third-party participation in the NAC program, along with a set of advanced NAC implementation consulting services to assist customer deployments of NAC technologies in their networks. The NAC vendor integration program is designed to foster further industry collaboration, and includes the availability of select NAC technology application programming interfaces (APIs), including an API for Cisco Trust Agent, to third-party vendors for product integration, testing and certification. The goal of creating this broad vendor program is to dramatically increase the range of solutions that will be NAC-enabled, including security and patch management The installation of patches from a software vendor onto an organization's computers. Patching thousands of PCs and servers is a major issue. A patch should be applied to test machines first before deployment, and the testing environments must represent all the users' PCs with their unique software. The Advanced Services NAC implementation consulting services are an integrated set of planning, design and implementation offerings to help customers deploy a reliable, efficient and scalable NAC solution. These include: --NAC Readiness Assessment: Assess the network infrastructure to determine NAC readiness --NAC Limited Deployment: Install a limited NAC deployment to test features and gain experience --NAC Design Development: Develop a NAC design specification for a corporate-wide deployment --NAC Implementation Engineering: Deliver onsite installation, configuration, testing and tuning of NAC components Cisco plans to extend NAC support to additional Cisco platforms including its switching and remote access virtual private network (VPN (Virtual Private Network) A private network that is configured within a public network (a carrier's network or the Internet) in order to take advantage of the economies of scale and management facilities of large networks. ) solutions, support for the 802.1x security protocol, and expanded Cisco Trust Agent operating system operating system (OS) Software that controls the operation of a computer, directs the input and output of data, keeps track of files, and controls the processing of computer programs. (OS) support including Windows 2003, Linux and Solaris. NAC support in the switching infrastructure will help enable customers to ensure endpoint compliance with corporate security policies before obtaining local-area-network (LAN (Local Area Network) A communications network that serves users within a confined geographical area. The "clients" are the user's workstations typically running Windows, although Mac and Linux clients are also used. ) access. Today's announcement underscores Cisco's continued leadership in the network security market, and is a key component of Cisco's Self-Defending Network security strategy to help customers build networks that can identify, respond and adapt to security threats. Pricing and Availability All components of the first release of NAC are now available at no additional charge to customers with the corresponding product support contracts. These include Cisco IOS Software Release 12.3(8)T using the Advanced Security image or higher feature set on Cisco 830 Series to Cisco 7200 Series routers, Cisco Secure Access Control Server (ACS (Asynchronous Communications Server) See network access server. ) version 3.3, Cisco Security Agent version 4.0.2, and CiscoWorks Security Information Management Solution (SIMS) version 3.2. The Cisco Trust Agent version 1.0 is now available at no charge as well. The NAC vendor integration program is scheduled to be available in the third quarter of calendar year 2004. The Cisco Advanced Services NAC implementation consulting services are now available. NAC Partner Information: For additional information about NAC partner product support and availability, contact: Network Associates Media Contact: Tracy Ross Network Associates 408-346-5965 tracy_ross@nai.com www.networkassociates.com Symantec Media Contact: Jackie Bartoletti Symantec Corporation 310-449-4918 jackie_bartoletti@symantec.com www.symantec.com Trend Micro Media Contact: Colleen col·leen n. An Irish girl. [Irish Gaelic cailín, diminutive of caile, girl, from Old Irish. Smith Access Communications
Access Communications Co-operative Ltd. for Trend Micro 408.505.7723 csmith@accesspr.com www.trendmicro.com About Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, this year celebrates 20 years of commitment to technology innovation, industry leadership, and corporate social responsibility. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com. Cisco, Cisco Systems, the Cisco Systems logo, and Cisco IOS are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and certain other countries. |
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