Microsoft Adds to NAC Ecosystem

BARCELONA, Spain -- Microsoft today announced key additions to the Network Access Protection (NAP) ecosystem with new third-party products that extend NAP to Macintosh and Linux desktops, as well as the first NAP-powered appliance. The new products will extend NAP, a policy enforcement platform built into the Windows Vista operating system and the upcoming versions of Windows Server 2008 and Windows XP SP 3, to non-Microsoft operating systems in heterogeneous network environments. Microsoft also announced that NAP has hit a milestone of 150,000 pre-release adoptions worldwide.

Announcements today included:

• UNETsystem Inc. announced that Linux and Macintosh versions of the company’s Anyclick for NAP will be released in 2008, extending NAP technology to these desktops.
• Avenda Systems Inc. announced the upcoming release of the Avenda Linux Network Access Protection Agent, which extends Network Access Protection technology to network endpoints running the Linux operating system.
• Celestix Networks Inc. announced that it has developed the first purpose-built appliance for delivering the NAP policy-enforcement platform. Celestix has scheduled the release of the new appliances shortly after Microsoft releases Windows Server 2008 next spring.
• Gaining momentum for Windows Server 2008, NAP is now deployed in more than 150,000 desktops worldwide, including 70,000 desktops at Microsoft. Microsoft also released a case study describing NAP deployment at Microsoft, available at http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=4000000983

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT)