The Channel Needs to Have a NAC for Security

With all the obvious concerns about security in this age bring your own technology (BYOT) to work you might think that network access control (NAC) technologies might be more pervasive than they actually are. But as most solution providers in the channel with any NAC experience already know, NAC technologies have been both historically difficult to implement, but also overly optimized to promote one infrastructure vendor or another’s agenda.

But as customers continue to struggle with all the security implications associated with mobile computing, Brant Kennedy, vice president of global sales for ForeScout Technologies, a provider of NAC software, says the time to revisit NAC is at hand because ForeScout has developed a NAC platform that is both comprehensive and easy to install and manage.

Kennedy says that ideally solution providers should be thinking about delivering NAC as a managed service now that the core technology is more accessible, but adds that as part of a new channel program initiative the company is just as happy to strike new relationships with potential resellers.

Whether it’s deployed on premise or a service, customers have a new found appreciation for access management these days. Of course, the term NAC itself is a little loaded these days because of past promises that were never really fulfilled. But no matter what you call it, customers today know they need it, or something like it, more than ever.