IXIA Launches NAC Security Testing

CALABASAS, Calif. -- Ixia (Nasdaq: XXIA), a leading, global provider of IP performance test systems, today announced new capabilities for thorough testing for all forms of authentication on switches and routers including Layer 2 and Layer 3 testing of Cisco network admission control (NAC). In an Infonetics Research study User Plans for Security Products and Services: North America 2006, Cisco tops the list of vendors respondents think about when it comes to NAC.

The distributed nature of today’s enterprises is changing network security requirements. With anywhere connectivity on the horizon, companies must open their sensitive data to users with many different profiles that require various levels of network privileges. Many large enterprises are struggling with maintaining multiple directory stores, so managing user access has become a challenge. Increasingly, they are turning NAC, a set of technologies and solutions that uses the network infrastructure to enforce security policy compliance on all devices seeking to access network computing resources, to limit damage from emerging security threats.

With the roll out of IxNetwork 5.30, network equipment manufactures and enterprises can comprehensively test network switch authentication functions and network elements to perform the necessary authentication required for NAC. Using IxNetwork, a comprehensive test of NAC can be applied across all access methods to ensure, prior to deployment, that network access is granted only to compliant and trusted endpoint devices endpoints (e.g. PCs, PDAs, and laptops) and that non-compliant and rogue endpoints will not impact the network. For example, as many security breaches happen when laptops enter the enterprise, IxNetwork 5.30 can test whether the switching fabric is verifying the state of users’ operating system, anti-virus and other software in accordance with NAC parameters.

“NAC is a crucial security element of an anywhere network. But there are many moving parts and it’s crucial to thoroughly test a NAC framework’s efficacy prior to deployment,” said Andrew Jaquith, Program Manager, Enterprise Security at Yankee Group. “Thorough pre-deployment testing identifies unforeseen security vulnerabilities that administrators can address before it results in unauthorized access to sensitive systems and data.”

Ixia (Nasdaq: XXIA)