Microsoft’s Network Access Protection Plattform (NAP) security function will be available for Linux and the Mac operating system via third party products.
At its TechEd fair in Barcelona, Microsoft exhibited technologies by three partners that support access to NAP security requests on heterogeneous networks. NAP is used to query the security policies and identities of clients and to synchronize with server policies on Microsoft networks. NAP is currently deployed in Microsoft Vista and the future Windows Server 2008 platform. Three software packages will bring NAP technology to network nodes running Linux.
Korean security vendor UNET System has a solution for Linux and Mac platforms on heterogeneous networks in the form of a plugin dubbed Anyclick für NAP. US-based Avenda Systems is looking to complete an authentication package titled Avenda Linux Network Access Protection Agent which synchronizes data with Microsoft NAP or its proprietary eTIPS system. Both products are scheduled for release shortly after Windows Server 2008 is launched, that is probably as of February 2008. According to current figures from Redmond, NAP is currently installed on 150,000 desktops, of which some 70,000 are owned by Microsoft itself.
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