Sygate announces 802.1x interoperability with leading switch companies to enforce endpoint policy compliance

EDP Weekly's IT Monitor, March 1, 2004

Sygate Technologies, a market leader of enterprise endpoint security solutions, today announced interoperability between Sygate Secure Enterprise (SSE) and five industry-leading network switch companies to build the foundation for total network security and endpoint enforcement of corporate security policies. Infrastructure equipment from Cisco, Enterasys Networks, Extreme Networks, HP, and Nortel Networks have been tested with Sygate to ensure interoperability using 802.1x Authentication. Interoperability of Sygate software with critical network switching infrastructure enables organizations to tighten control over internal network security by ensuring that all endpoints connecting to the network are authenticated and 100% compliant with corporate security policies before accessing the network.

Sygate assesses the status of any endpoint, remote or internal, to make sure it is fully compliant with corporate security policy before it is granted access to the network. Adding Sygate's software-driven intelligence to critical network hardware ensures that any endpoint requesting network access is in a trusted state and does not compromise network integrity. By ensuring interoperability with open standards such as 802.1x, Sygate's solution works with network switches from leading infrastructure vendors Cisco, Enterasys, Extreme, HP, and Nortel.

"We are excited about announcing the interoperability of Sygate's technology with such leading infrastructure companies as Cisco, Enterasys, Extreme, HP, and Nortel," said Babak Salimi, executive director of product strategy, Sygate Technologies. "This is an important step that lays the groundwork for our customers who are demanding a more secure, policy-driven, local network that supports a multi-vendor environment. It also represents a significant milestone in the evolution of our enterprise security product, intertwining it more closely with our customers' network infrastructure for even tighter control over endpoints--increasingly recognized as a leading source of dangerous exposures across the organization."

"Organizations often leave themselves and their local networks wide open to attacks, and they are especially vulnerable to employee mobile devices such as roaming laptops that may bring infections in with them," said Paul Congdon, chief architect, HP ProCurve Networking Business. "Industry thought leaders understand that intelligent security is critical at the edge of the local network. Customers require a proactive approach to security that gives them greater control over who is allowed onto their networks, without disrupting productivity."

"As a network infrastructure vendor, Nortel Networks helps our enterprise customers protect their networks from threats--be they within the network, at the edge, or at the remote endpoints. As an enterprise blueprint for this layered approach to security, our Unified Security Framework helps enterprises do just that. Our philosophy is that providing a converged infrastructure for telephony, video, multimedia and data communications to our customers is reliant on comprehensive security at all levels of the infrastructure. We team with companies like Sygate to help our enterprise customers offer additional layers of protection to realize this comprehensive approach to security," said John Doyle, director, enterprise security solutions, Nortel Networks.

"Enterprise customers are constantly looking for a better way to combat today's evolving security threats in order to protect network integrity and ensure business continuity. The combination of Enterasys' dynamic, highly-intelligent Secure Networks solutions and Sygate's Secure Enterprise provide customers greater endpoint control, helping organizations to comply with new regulations and enforce corporate security policies," said John Roese, chief technology officer, Enterasys Networks. "Our interoperability with Sygate complements our approach to building Secure Networks, which yields an integrated system where security is pervasive, even in multi-vendor environments."