Re: NAC Implementation

[Brian Friday <bfriday () LASIERRA EDU>]

Hi all,

I can add a "me too" for the Cisco Clean Access (Perfigo). Although I
have significant concerns that Cisco is still out to kill off Cisco
Clean Access usage as it does not force those deploying to use Cisco
hardware. The Interop Labs Cisco handout "What is a Cisco NAC?"
focused for all but one paragraph on their C-NAC (Cisco's Network
Admission Control) contained only one fleeting mention of Clean
Access but spent a significant amount of time pushing their C-NAC
(Cisco's Network Admission Control). Needless to say that did not
help our concerns in the least. I also understand they have changed
their licensing model and the brief numbers I have seen lead me to
believe if they aren't killing the product they may be pricing it out
of our reach.  Though this might have been their business and not
academic pricing model.

For the reasons above we have been looking at other products similar
to Cisco Clean Access as well as those more advanced products. Aside
from the ones already mentioned, Mirage Networks (http://
www.miragenetworks.com) looked interesting I understand they partner
with at&t and can place the device on your network or have it
attached to your network line in a hosted environment. The second
option doesn't sound extremely appealing but their product seemed to
be worth a look.
        
I have also been looking hard at PacketFence as it would allow us to
leverage our experience and skill in house to implement a system that
may actually integrate tighter than a commercial solution is capable
(given budgetary constraints). I am still setting the system up in
between my normal workload but our IT department will be some of the
first vic... volunteers.....

Brian Friday
Infrastructure Manager
Information Technology
La Sierra University
Riverside, CA 92515
Tel: (951) 785-2900
Fax: (951) 785-2908
bfriday () lasierra edu