Cisco Sets Out Security Strategy

SAN FRANCISCO -- Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) yesterday fit a number of pieces into its security jigsaw with a slew of announcements at the RSA Conference in San Francisco.

Robert Whiteley, analyst at Forrester Research Inc. says that Cisco is now putting its money where its mouth is. Cisco has been saying that they are going to get serious about security and self-defending networks and they are now backing this up,” he says.

For over a year, Cisco has been touting its Self Defending Network strategy, a somewhat loosely-defined initiative to create an “immune system” for networks. In plain English, this means coordinating security across internal networks and end-point devices such as firewalls and routers.

Just to confuse matters, Cisco also embarked on a security spending spree, snapping up a plethora of smaller, specialist vendors (see Cisco's Security Spree Continues).

Now, however, the company’s game plan is suddenly much clearer, as Cisco unveils a range of technologies born out of the recent acquisitions. For Whiteley, the new version of Cisco’s SSL VPN Concentrator is a key weapon in the company's armory.