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Forescout Introduces NAC-as-a-Service Platform for Managed Service Providers (UK)

Rapid On-boarding, Non-disruptive Deployment and Flexible Packaging
Enable Managed Services Success and Savings

Cupertino, Calif. USA — 1 November 2011 — Forescout Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of automated security control solutions for Fortune 1000 enterprises and government organisations, today introduced its award-winning CounterACT network access control (NAC) solution as a cloud platform targeting hosted and managed service providers (MSPs).

Forescout’s CounterACT platform, proven in hosted and private cloud environments, enables service providers to extend their security portfolio with necessary deployment and service level confidence.  As a result, mid-tier, large and government enterprises can extend defences and automate policy-based controls while optimising security expertise and capital expenditure.

Industry analysts forecast the rapidly developing Managed Security Services (MSS) market to reach over $8 billion by 2015, driven by small-to-medium enterprises and large organisations seeking to reduce operational risks, better utilise limited security resources and lower costs.

Network access control (NAC) and network-based endpoint security (NES) solutions offerings have eluded the service provider mainstream due to deployment limitations, operational disruptions and service complexity.  Most approaches have infrastructure restrictions, agent management and enforcement overhead, long implementation cycles and heavy capital commitments – all of which impact success and add costs for both the service provider and their customers.

“Increased connectivity and more advanced threats combined with the introduction of personal mobile devices to enterprise networks have augmented the need for network access control (NAC) solutions, positioning their use as an important protection layer.  Some organisations have difficulty managing NAC approaches comprised of multiple components and dealing with non-managed devices,” said Andrew Kellett, senior security analyst at Ovum.  “That said, Forescout CounterACT’s integration, broad device assessment and packaging offer service providers a well-grounded opportunity to market NAC within their service offerings.”

“Given the regulatory compliance issues affecting the industry today, along with an ever-increasing requirement for accountability, the need to have visibility of network assets and strict control of access to network resources and information has become a fundamental requirement critical to business continuity and success,” said Ade Omotomilola, head of managed services at Axial Systems.  “Forescout CounterACT represents a highly valued offering within Axial Systems’ portfolio of network and security solutions to meet these needs.”

Axial Systems recently designed a robust Managed NAC solution for Travelodge, the fastest growing budget hotel chain in Europe, using Forescout CounterACT. Robin Bryant, infrastructure support manager at Travelodge, said: “Wireless network scanning was proving a very difficult PCI requirement for Travelodge IT to meet efficiently; many potential solutions just proved unworkable with our organisation. Then, through one of Axial’s regular technology briefings, Forescout’s CounterACT Network access control technology was identified as a potential solution. We engaged with Axial to ensure that it did indeed meet PCI requirements and they are now providing Travelodge with a NAC Managed Service that gives us peace of mind that we are now more than satisfying this requirement.”

 

With Forescout, MSPs benefit from:

  • Broad service capabilities, non-disruptive implementation, management ease and faster time-to-value – which is equally compelling for their clients
  • Greater purchase flexibility, with monthly pricing, tiered discounts and on-demand license expansion options
  • Additional marketing and implementation materials to streamline prospecting and service development
  • A more agile and integrated solution that does not require agents or 802.1x managed endpoints and offers full interoperability to work in even the most demanding environments – no need to alter or upgrade the customer’s network or security infrastructure
  • Service-ready: a built-in and customisable array of device identification and auto-classification capabilities with extensible network access, endpoint compliance, guest networking and threat prevention security policies

“IT organisations seek the speed, expertise, resources and predictable expenditure advantages that managed security service providers can offer, but until now, did not have enough confidence to consider NAC as a managed service,” said Gord Boyce, CEO at Forescout.   “Forescout CounterACT’s proven combination of real-time agentless visibility, automated control and integrated functionality, combined with superior manageability and aggressive MSP packaging makes NAC as a service not only viable, but one that can deliver accelerated results for both service provider and their customers.”

Forescout invites its channel partners and service providers to explore the CounterACT MSP platform at www.forescout.com/msp.  CounterACT delivers real-time visibility and automated security controls with fully integrated capabilities for guest networking, network access control, mobile security, endpoint compliance and threat prevention. Other capabilities include:

  • Flexibility:  can be deployed, managed and scaled-out on-premise and off-premise, and comes in a wide range of physical and virtual appliance models to enable immediate deployment with the means to readily scale-out
  • Easy to manage:  service providers leverage an intuitive, roles-based administrative console, which is complemented by a web portal and robust, customisable reporting
  • Scalability:  CounterACT Enterprise Manager, delivered as a physical or virtual appliance, not only manages multiple distributed CounterACT appliances, but also offers centralised policy management, security intelligence and dynamic remediation to more than 250,000 endpoints
  • Interoperability:  CounterACT integrates with broad network and security infrastructure and popular external management and security systems such as those from BMC, HP ArcSight and McAfee to streamline customer on-boarding

About Forescout Technologies, Inc.
Forescout enables its customers to unleash the full power of their network through enterprise-class security and control.  Forescout’s automated solutions for network access control, mobile security, threat prevention and endpoint compliance empower organisations to gain access agility while preempting risks and eliminating remediation costs.  Because Forescout security solutions are easy to deploy, unobtrusive, intelligent and scalable, they have been chosen by more than 1,000 of the world’s most secure enterprises and military installations for global deployments spanning 37 countries.  Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Forescout delivers its solutions through its network of authorised partners worldwide.