Juniper Enhances Network Security Portfolio

August 6, 2008

Juniper Networks introduced its comprehensive, standards-based Juniper Networks Unified Access Control (UAC) 2.2 software and the Juniper Networks Infranet Controller 4500 (IC 4500) and Infranet Controller 6500 (IC 6500) hardened, centralized policy management servers.

Juniper's enhanced Access Control Solution with the new UAC and Infranet Controllers delivers scalability and performance and provides centralized access policy management via today's newly announced Juniper Networks Network and Security Manager (NSM). This enables high-performance businesses to simplify rollout, deployment and provisioning of secure network access and to attain comprehensive network visibility with broad enforcement capabilities across the most diverse and complex environments — a significant advance in network access control (NAC) that enables enterprises to increase security while reducing cost and maximizing IT efficiencies.

"Providing secure, consistent yet differentiated network and application access that drives high-quality collaboration and interactions between students, faculty, contractors and partners is a challenging task for today's increasingly distributed environments," said William Caplins, Director of Technology at St. Mary's County Public Schools, who deployed Juniper Networks UAC with the help of Data Networks, a Juniper Networks Elite Partner. "Juniper's comprehensive, scalable UAC solution enables us to continue to grow and sustain business productivity without sacrificing security. With advancements in policy management and continued standards support, UAC makes it even simpler and cost efficient for us to deliver granular access control. We like the direction Juniper is going."

Today's high-performance businesses are faced with the mounting challenge of protecting their networked assets while dynamically provisioning secure, differentiated local access across an increasingly distributed network environment. They require a flexible and scalable solution that can reduce the cost and complexity of deployment, while maintaining secure, uninterrupted authorized access to business-critical applications and operations. Juniper Networks UAC 2.2, with the IC 4500 and IC 6500 policy engines, extends access control deeper into existing network and security infrastructure, providing an extensive set of endpoint security checks and features.

Juniper Networks UAC 2.2 delivers centralized policy management when deployed with Juniper Networks NSM and Secure Access SSL VPN appliances, enabling customers to deliver uniform remote and local access control policy implementation and enforcement across the distributed network.

The IC 6500 delivers double the capacity of the previous generation Infranet Controllers with support for up to 30,000 simultaneous endpoint devices in a single multi-unit cluster.

"Granular network and application access demand a fast, reliable and secure access control solution that offers best-in-class performance and scalability, along with easy administration, provisioning and management," said Sanjay Beri, vice president, Access Solutions, Juniper Networks. "Juniper remains a pioneer and leader in delivering the most comprehensive enterprise-wide access control, giving our high-performance customers the ability to improve security and business continuity, and to focus more on innovation."

Juniper Networks UAC 2.2 is based on open industry standards, including those defined by the Trusted Network Connect (TNC) Work Group of the Trusted Computing Group (TCG). It supports the TNC Statement of Health (SOH) standard protocol, which extends UAC support to the Microsoft Windows Statement of Health (SOH) and Embedded NAP Agents, allowing customers to interoperate with Juniper Networks UAC through the Microsoft Windows Vista and/or Windows XP (SP3) clients. This allows customers to leverage existing network infrastructure and components, ensuring cost-effective and flexible access control and simplified deployment for organizations of all sizes.

"Juniper Networks has been a key driver of standards-based network access control and the company's latest support of TNC's IF-TNCCS-SOH protocol reflects its ongoing commitment to delivering a solution that is flexible, open and interoperable," said Paul Sangster, co-chair of the TNC Work Group of the Trusted Computing Group (TCG). "This epitomizes the TNC standards: enabling interoperability between products from different vendors to deliver powerful network access control and network security, simplifying rollout and deployment and reducing the cost and administration of enterprise security."

"Juniper's support for the Microsoft SOH protocol provides greater opportunities for customers to streamline their client deployment via UAC's standards-based interoperability with Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows XP clients," said Calvin Choe, director of technical business development, Enterprise Security Group at Microsoft. "By implementing TNC standards, Juniper increases choices for those customers with heterogeneous network policy management solutions, as well as providing them with the ability to quickly and effectively adapt to today's changing business and network environments."

Juniper Networks UAC 2.2 and the IC 4500 and IC 6500 platforms are available today through Juniper Networks and its global network of reseller partners. UAC 2.2 software is free of charge to customers with active maintenance contracts. For new customers, the list price for UAC 2.2 software begins at US $1,500 for a 25 simultaneous endpoint device license. The new Infranet Controller hardware is an additional cost.