More Secure Network Access Control

HIGH-PERFORMANCE networking solutions provider Juniper Networks Inc has announced Unified Access Control (UAC) version 2.1, advancing the solution’s ability to meet the evolving access control and security requirements of high-performance businesses.

UAC 2.1 helps to reduce the cost and complexity of securing access to networks and applications.

According to Juniper Networks’ vice president, access solutions Sanjay Beri, as businesses increasingly view the network and pervasive network access as critical to their success, they are quickly recognising that access control, visibility and monitoring of their applications and users are effective and efficient means of mitigating exposure to internal and external threats.

In parallel, network access control is evolving from setting pre- admission controls, enabling guest user access and assessing end- point policy, to dynamically addressing post-admission policies and controls, role-based application access control and network and application visibility and monitoring, he explained.

This is where UAC 2.1 comes in. It extends access control to network traffic by implementing security policy enforcement that is broader and deeper into the network’s core and outward to the network’s edge, hence mitigating the risks associated with exposing corporate assets.

The new version provides advanced network protection, application visibility, monitoring and control, and simplifies network access control deployment.

Among the key features are co-ordinated threat control, identity- enabled profiler, unmanageable device support, advanced security assessment, heterogeneous end-point support and simplified deployment.

Beri pointed out that UAC 2.1 improves security policy enforcement for a dynamic set of users and devices across the extended enterprise, enabling IT organisations to take a proactive stance to mitigate threats, more efficiently maintain regulatory compliance and reduce administration inefficiencies that increase costs and impact productivity.

“Our open, standardsbased UAC offering provides enterprises with a simple, flexible access control solution that enables a phased approach to deployment and protects customers’ previous IT investments,” he said.

UAC 2.1 software release is expected to be available by end of this month. It is free to UAC customers with active maintenance contracts. Pricing for new purchases starts from US$5,000 (RM17,500) for 100 concurrent users.

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