ConSentry Networks' Secure Switching Enables Enterprises to Revive Outdated Wiring Closets by Securing Every Port.

New Branch-Office Platform and Universal Endpoint Interoperability Simplify Pervasive Deployment of Secure Switching

MILPITAS, Calif. -- Proclaiming death to today's aging wiring closets, ConSentry Networks today introduced a secure-switching strategy that enables enterprises to migrate their LANs beyond "blind trust" connectivity to a service delivery solution that controls every user and secures every port. Enterprises need their LAN infrastructures to catch up with evolving business models characterized by outsourcing, offshoring, distributed collaboration, and mobility. To simplify that transition, ConSentry secure switching provides full control over all users and devices, along with in-depth application knowledge, across a family of wire-speed platforms. Enterprises can revive their outdated wiring closets with secure switching, deployed as an appliance or a secure switch.

Today's news complements the company's secure switching strategy in the following ways:

* A new CS-4024 24-port Gigabit Ethernet switch platform extends the LANShield[TM] switch family to address the needs of remote offices.

* Universal Endpoint Interoperability[TM] makes secure switching pervasive across all endpoints -- enabling best-of-breed endpoint agent software to rely on ConSentry for network visibility and enforcement.

"The wiring closet as we know it is dead because the trusted connectivity model on which most LANs are built is obsolete," said Tom Barsi, ConSentry president and CEO. "Users have open access to LAN resources once they're online. There's no automated way to separate users by function, no control over what they can access, limited visibility into what they are doing, and no pervasive knowledge of the endpoint or application. Secure switching melds user, application, and server information and embeds that level of access control directly into the wiring-closet infrastructure."

Editors Note: ConSentry Networks will demonstrate its secure switching solutions at Interop Las Vegas, May 22-24, Booth 675.

Migrating the Wiring Closet to Secure Switching

Connectivity and performance have been the dominant LAN priorities over the last five to seven years, resulting in wiring-closet infrastructures that are designed for fast packet forwarding to static endpoints, have limited application awareness, and provide open access to all resources. Control is the new imperative on the LAN, and for control to be most effective, it must be an integral part of the wiring-closet infrastructure, without a sacrifice in LAN performance.

In addition, while LAN traffic patterns have historically focused exclusively on access to core servers and the data center, the rise in peer-to-peer traffic and departmental web-based applications now demands that IT broaden its focus.

"Enterprises have always been very careful about choosing the best solutions for their data centers, but now the time has come to apply that same due diligence to the wiring closet," said Zeus Kerravala, vice president of enterprise infrastructure at The Yankee Group. "New traffic types as well as more open business models are driving up the value of the wiring closet for ensuring security and service consistency across the enterprise."

The ConSentry secure-switching strategy rejects the costly "rip-and-replace" model of proprietary LAN security approaches. Instead ConSentry provides an evolutionary migration path to upgrading the wiring closet to support today's business imperatives:

* Add a secure-switching overlay to the existing LAN infrastructure using the LANShield Controller and universal endpoints

* Introduce LANShield switches during wiring closet refresh cycles to integrate security and control for the access layer

* Extend security to branch offices for consistent security and policy across the enterprise using the new LANShield CS-4024 switch

The effectiveness of this migration path has been borne out by ConSentry's own customer base; customers most often deploy the LANShield Controller in initial configurations and migrate to LANShield switches as they expand their deployments.

"We're using the LANShield Controller in our main facilities to get full control over what doctors, nurses, guests, and other users can do on our LAN," said Mark Rein, director of IT for Mercy Medical Center. "Now we're very interested in the LANShield Switch, especially the 24-port version, for securing our smaller facilities as we refresh the wiring closets in those locations. For us, secure switching in both forms is key to giving us back control over our LAN."

Comprehensive Product Family with Universal Endpoint Support

To ensure secure switching can be pervasively deployed across the enterprise, ConSentry has extended its LANShield Switch family and can offer enterprises a wide variety of choices for endpoint support.

The LANShield CS-4024 provides all the functionality of ConSentry's existing LANShield platforms in a form factor and price point optimized for enterprise branch offices. All ConSentry secure-switching platforms are powered by a common code base -- third-generation security and control software, field proven across more than 100 enterprises over the last 18 months. The LANShield architecture includes these key features:

* Identity-based control of user activities on the LAN

* User behavior analysis to see all user actions and drive new policy requirements

* Application fluency to tie visibility and enforcement to Layer 7 information

* Integrated admission control -- with or without 802.1X

* Integrated enterprise-class switching in the LANShield Switch line, with optional Power over Ethernet (PoE)

* Threat control to detect and block propagation of worms and other malware

* 128-core CPU and programmable ASICs for feature extensibility

* Multithreaded software to drive horsepower in custom silicon

ConSentry's Universal Endpoint Interoperability enables enterprises to cover all endpoint types -- unmanaged and managed -- without introducing more agents.

 -- For the managed desktop, ConSentry provides network enforcement
    for and interoperates with an enterprise's preferred endpoint
    solution, such as:

     -- Framework architectures including Microsoft's Network Access
        Protection and The Trusted Computing Group's Trusted Network
        Connect

     -- Anti-virus suites from vendors such as Symantec/Sygate,
        McAfee, or Trend Micro

     -- Regional endpoint products such as the Criston (headquarters
        in France) Precision client and the NTT Data Intellilink
        (headquarters in Japan) NOSide client

 -- For unmanaged endpoints, ConSentry has extended the reach of its
    dissolvable agent to support Linux and Mac client operating
    systems as well as Windows.

Pricing and Availability

The LANShield CS-4024 is currently in testing and will be available in Q3 at a U.S. list price of $5,995.

For More Information

 -- Secure Switching
 (http://www.consentry.com/solutions-secure-switching.html)

 -- Signs of a Dead Wiring Closet
 (http://www.consentry.com/solutions-dead-wiring-closet.html)

 -- Universal Endpoint Interoperability
 (http://www.consentry.com/solutions-endpoint-interoperability.html)

About ConSentry Networks

ConSentry Networks delivers secure switching, enabling enterprises to control every user and secure every port on the LAN through its LANShield product family -- the LANShield[TM] Switch, LANShield Controller, and InSight[TM] Command Center. More than 100 enterprises today rely on ConSentry's award-winning secure-switching platforms to protect their corporate assets, ensure continuity of operations, and dramatically reduce the risk of security breaches. ConSentry is backed by blue-chip venture capital firms Accel Partners, DAG Ventures, INVESCO Private Capital, and Sequoia Capital; and is headquartered in Milpitas, California.

ConSentry Networks, the ConSentry Networks logo, LANShield, and "Control every user. Secure every port." are trademarks of ConSentry Networks Inc., for use in the United States and other countries. All other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective holders.