IBM and Cisco work toward one-step network-access solutions

By Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 12/1/2004 7:00:00 AM

Traditionally, giving new users access to a corporate network has required configuring dual sets of tools covering network routers and data-center infrastructure. But IBM and Cisco Systems have taken several steps this year to integrate their respective network-access tools.

The most recent announcement extends IBM's Tivoli Access Manager—which controls data center functions—to work with Cisco's Network Access Control product. This one-stop solution, which will run on Cisco's Network Admission Architecture, can be used to coordinate provisioning of all network services to named users. "This way, we can understand who the user is, and deliver tightly provisioned access at the switch-port level to the proper virtual LAN," explains David King, director of business development for Cisco's Security Technology Group.

Additional capabilities are aimed at ensuring all client devices—e.g., PCs, PDAs, etc.—have valid configurations for the networks they are trying to access. There also is functionality for automatically quarantining devices that either do not have the most up-to-date security patches, or whose system images have been corrupted by viruses or other problems.

Additionally, the IBM and Cisco network admission systems can work together to control what programs—including those beyond the firewall—any device on a network can access.

"We're looking at what's on that device, and whether you want to let it access sites like Kazaa [a music file-sharing Web site]," says Don Cronin, a senior technologist for IBM's corporate security team.

IBM's tie-ins to Cisco's Network Admission Architecture follow similar moves from antivirus providers including Network Associates, Symantec, Trend Micro, and Computer Associates. Recently, Microsoft also announced it would coordinate network security with Cisco, although most of the functionality is awaiting release of Microsoft's Longhorn operating system, scheduled for 2006.

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