Evolving Security Needs of Enterprise Leads to Borderless Network Systems

Related Articles

• How Seriously Do You Take Data Breaches?
• Spotlight Shines on Alice and Bob for RSA Conference 2011 Anniversary
• New Audit and Registry Service to Combat Phishing and Spoofing of Email

Subscription Options

Subscribe Newswire

Widgets & RSS Feeds

In March, Cisco announced that it wanted to tackle today’s enterprise security challenges with a new architecture to help enable business users to access information from any device and any location with what it termed: “a high degree of ease and security.” At that time, the company announced the Cisco Secure Borderless Network architecture to evolve enterprise security by focusing on four critical anchors: enterprise endpoints (mobile or fixed), the Internet edge, the data center, and policy that is context- and location-aware.

At that time, Tom Gillis, vice president and general manager, Security Technology business unit for Cisco noted: “The security needs of businesses are changing and becoming more complex, as more employees spend time out of the office accessing the corporate network via their smart phone or laptop. As a result, enterprises need a solution that will not hamper employee productivity, while helping to ensure that the network is not exposed to hackers, malware and other threats.”

Building on its Borderless Network, last week Cisco announced that it has partnered with third-party technology vendors to create a validated Secure Borderless Network Systems initiative that allows Cisco to simplify the integration and validation of security systems for its customers.

Cisco points to IDC analyst findings that “indicate that some of the most prominent security management challenges are a result of difficulties with integration, complexity and the complications associated with managing point solutions.”

Cisco says it is addressing these challenges with its validated Secure Borderless Network Systems designs. These validated designs provide a blueprint for tightly integrated solutions of Cisco and third-party products that allows IT managers to simplify the task of managing today’s security policies.

“We’re entering the next phase of evolution in the maturity of the security market,” says Pat Calhoun, general manager, Security Systems Unit, Cisco. “What began as isolated point products eventually developed into a series of loosely integrated product suites. Now with Cisco’s platform leadership, the security market is moving towards tightly integrated multi-vendor systems that deliver the best attributes of the earlier stages, but offer simplicity of operation and ease of deployment not yet experienced in the industry. The launch of our Validated Secure Borderless Network initiative will enable us to act as a trusted adviser to our customers, providing enterprises with a comprehensive system to most effectively meet their security challenges, while reducing their costs and the risks involved with integration.”

Announced partnerships included last week are in the area of secure mobility: HTC, Nokia, Palm and Samsung. For data security, validated designs are available for Cisco Data Security Systems from RSA, Lumension and Credant Technologies. For security management, validated systems are available for tested configurations of Cisco security technology with ArcSight; LogLogic; netForensics; RSA, the Security Division of EMC; and Splunk.