Network Access Control Crash Course

According to a study by Infonetics Research, the market for network access control (NAC) enforcement will grow 1,101% over three years. While there's obviously an opportunity here for value-added resellers (VARs) and systems integrators to make a buck, deciding which path to take in pursuit of that buck may be a challenge given the market's immaturity. This Crash Course provides an overview of network access control technologies, their role in network security and where the market stands, with a focus on the three big players -- Cisco, Microsoft and Trusted Computing Group.

• Definition: Network access control
  Start with the basics with this definition powered by WhatIs.com.
• Article: Tick, tick, boom: NAC market ready to explode
  By 2008, the market for NAC enforcement tools will see astonishing growth, hitting $3.9 billion, suggests an Infonetics study.
• Article: What constitutes NAC?
  While the original vision of NAC continues to expand, Andrew Braunberg, Senior Analyst with Current Analysis, defends an expanded definition that would leverage NAC as a truly ubiquitous access control system.
• Tip: Network access control: Perspectives on an immature market
  VARs and systems integrators must be familiar with the young NAC market so as to make smart recommendations to their customers that will remain viable in the future.
• Article: Midmarket IT pros have NAC for identity, access management
  Midmarket firms may not have the budgets of large companies, but IT pros can build identity and access management programs with network access control technologies that are as effective as what the big guys have.
• Article: Hackers have knack for beating NAC systems
  Network access control systems are widely used by enterprises to remediate client access to internal networks, but experts say many NAC systems can be easily bypassed.
• Tip: NAC's role in regulatory compliance
  Network access control has been sold as a network security cure-all, but does it have a role in regulatory compliance?
• Article: Microsoft, Cisco announce joint NAC/NAP zrchitecture
  Customers will be able to start deploying the Microsoft NAP-Cisco NAC interoperable system once Windows Server "Longhorn" is available in the second half of 2007.
• Article: Vendors acknowledge NAC/NAP roadmap limits
  The NAC-NAP interoperability roadmap Microsoft and Cisco unveiled won't be of much use to non-Windows and non-Cisco environments.
• Article: Cisco's NAC play: Good for users, or just for Cisco's bottom line?
  Expert opinion on how subtle moves in Cisco's NAC department suggest that the company wants to be a major security player -- selling lots and lots of equipment in the process.