New Solutions From Nortel to Integrate 'Identity-Aware' Network Security With Unified Communications

Nortel is providing new solutions to integrate 'Identity-Aware' (News - Alert) network security with unified communications technology. This will enable enterprises to increase productivity and at the same time reduce operating expenses, according to the company. It will also provide secure access to the right resources from any location, at any time.

 

The new unified communications solutions from Nortel will ensure that data remains private. According to Joel Hackney, president of Enterprise Solutions at Nortel, the Identity Engines (News - Alert) portfolio will help to secure the use of the enterprise network. This in turn will ensure that authorized personnel are able to access it. Authenticated users will be able to access only those resources that they are authorized to. The portfolio thus ensures that the right information reaches the right decision makers at the right time.

 

When a user accesses the network, identity-aware networking will find out who the user is, the device that is being used and the location of the connection in order to determine the appropriate level of network access. The Identity Engines portfolio provides identity information about everyone on the network which will provide network managers more visibility and control over user traffic.

 

The Identity Engines portfolio provides a Secure Guest Networking Solution which increases the security level and also reduces administration tasks. The solution enables non-technical staff to set up short-term accounts with access to only certain portions of the network. Such accounts will expire after a specified time period and will be automatically removed from directories.

 

The Identity Engines portfolio increases efficiency by providing centralized policy decision. It eliminates the need to create and manage user groups and deploy multiple servers by working across network silos. The Nortel (News - Alert) Identity Engines portfolio will integrate with the current network infrastructure of an enterprise to enforce role-based Network Access Control (NAC) for wired, wireless, and VPN networks.

 

The Nortel Identity Engines Portfolio is centered on the Identity Engines Ignition Server which acts as a policy engine and directory service integrator to deliver network identity management. The portfolio also adds identity-aware networking, centralized policy decision over LAN, WLAN and VPN, 802.1X-based transport and analytics and reporting to Nortel’s NAC offering.