Jon Oltsik on identity-based networking. As usual, he gets it right. No cringing from the long-time Cisco folks on the DEN reference later in the article. DEN was the right idea, just introduced way too early to survive.
Network access control (NAC) has certainly had a boisterous lifetime.
Cisco Systems first coined this term in 2005 when introducing an initiative to ensure that only “healthy” endpoints could access the network. In the intervening years, the NAC concept gained popularity, drove tremendous VC investment, and most recently came crashing down in a micro boom-to-bust cycle.
So what’s the future for NAC? Out of the ashes, NAC is slowly changing and moving in the right direction toward identity-based networking.
Hmmm, this whole Identity Based Networking thing sounds very familiar. I wouldn’t say the perspective is remarkably new, but it comes across fairly sound to me. Long before NAC existed the virtues and concepts of Identity Based Networking were being actively promoted by some (a very small few) in the industry. Some might say that IBN(S) could actually be considered the forefather to NAC, and that NAC in its essence, is really an extension of IBN which integrates posture as an additional authorization dimension. But, I digress…
Ian! Good to hear from you. I agree regarding the original goals of IBNS, I think it was just a bit ahead of its time and the stability wasn’t there across all the aspects of the solution. I agree that device health should just be a component of an overall identity decision. You don’t get access to a finance database because your machine is up to date, you get it because you work in finance *and* your machine is up to date. Unfortunately, the NAC market seemed to spin in a very posture-centric way and the notion of identity was diminished if not completely lost. It is good to see that coming around a bit.
Sean, I accidentally bumped into this and can not agree more on the NAC evolution.. Its a great feeling to see validation of exact words I used to describe the space few days ago.. similar thought process from several sources.. BTW I read Identity engines was releasing a posture check client. Is it out yet?
Renuka Nadkarni
Director Product Management, Nevis Networks