Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Microsoft NAP / Cisco NAC

I have had some opportunities to listen to several early presentations on Microsoft NAP and Cisco NAC integration from folks who are working on the technologies in both the Microsoft and Cisco camps. Despite the typical cynical remarks regarding both companies and their far reaching marketing efforts I think there is a good chance that we will have a very cool integration story.
With the Vista client having a native NAP client built in to the OS and having Cisco NAC ACS solution work with Microsoft's backed services to do health and other checks there is a chance we could get the best of both worlds. True network access control from a Ethernet port level that authenticates you and moves you to appropriate network segments based on credentials and health and remediation based on client/server access requirements.
I will have to attempt to set up a lab running both. The biggest problem is getting access to all the third party products that work with both NAP and NAC. I can get the Cisco and Microsoft product lines to test but all the other add ons that really bring value to the solution are hard to come by. Maybe I will get luck and one or two will decide my user groups are a worthwhile cause and donate some software? Here's to dreaming.
- Ed

No comments: