Juniper, Microsoft Interoperate

LAS VEGAS -- Juniper Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) today announced the companies are working together to provide customers and partners with open standards-based interoperability between Juniper Networks Unified Access Control (UAC) and Microsoft® Network Access Protection (NAP). Interoperability between NAP and the Juniper Networks UAC solution will provide customers with greater choice, flexibility and investment protection for network access control (NAC) deployments. Juniper Networks and Microsoft are demonstrating NAP/UAC interoperability this week at Interop Las Vegas 2007 in the Microsoft Partner Pavilion #1548, Juniper booth #539, Trusted Computing Group booth #211 and at NAC Day, a sold-out education conference taking place on Monday, May 21, 2007, at the Interop show.

Juniper Networks and Microsoft are further demonstrating joint commitment and continuing support for the Trusted Computing Group’s (TCG) Trusted Network Connect (TNC) open specifications for network access control. Microsoft has contributed NAP’s primary Statement of Health (SOH) client-server protocol to the TCG. The TCG has adopted and published the Microsoft SOH protocol as a new TNC standard (IF-TNCCS-SOH). This will enable interoperability of NAP clients and servers with TNC clients, servers and infrastructure such as the Juniper Networks UAC solution.

The Juniper Networks Infranet Controller, the policy management server at the heart of the Juniper UAC solution, will be able to leverage the built-in security assessment capabilities and the SOH protocol provided by the NAP agent built into the Windows Vista® and Microsoft Windows® XP operating systems. Microsoft Network Policy Server (NPS) brings a rich ecosystem of NAP health agents and will be able to interoperate with the Juniper Networks UAC solution in heterogeneous network environments. Microsoft NPS can either act as a policy server or be leveraged by the Juniper Infranet Controller for rich endpoint information. Microsoft is announcing that Windows Vista supports this protocol today and Windows Server® 2008 and Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) will support it as well later this year. The Juniper Networks UAC solution is expected to support the new TNC standard in the first half of 2008.

“NAC is too important of a process for customers to continue delaying deployments,” said Lawrence Orans, research director at Gartner. “Industry efforts to promote NAC openness and interoperability will help accelerate its adoption.”

Juniper Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: JNPR)

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT)