SAN JOSE, Calif., December 12, 2001 — Cisco Systems, the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, today announced enhancements to its identity management solutions with the availability of Cisco Secure Access Control Server (ACS) 3.0 for Windows. The new version gives customers centralized user access control and management capabilities in Cisco switched local area network (LAN) and wireless LAN environments.
"By implementing Cisco Secure ACS, the IT department saved more than 10 hours a week in staff time by reducing the need to manually authenticate and authorize users. Instead of reinventing the wheel every time a user needs access to the network, we've centralized access control to the point where we simply map a user ID to a pre-defined access group once, and the ACS system manages who, where, and how users can access the network," said Alan Lam, Consulting Engineer, PeopleSoft.
Cisco Secure ACS 3.0 is an integral security element of SAFE- a flexible, dynamic blueprint for security and virtual private networks (VPNs), based on Cisco AVVID — the Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data — which enables businesses to securely and successfully take advantage of e-Business and compete in the Internet economy. More information on the SAFE blueprint is available at http://www.cisco.com/go/safe
Enhancements to Cisco Secure Access Control Server 3.0 (ACS)
Cisco Secure ACS now includes support for IEEE standards-based 802.1X authentication of switched LAN users on Cisco Catalyst platforms. This provides customers with access control framework capabilities to manage user access from Ethernet LAN clients or wireless clients by using the new ACS Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) module.
Through an easy-to-use, web-based GUI, ACS 3.0 provides comprehensive network access control support to the growing network user population for a variety of Cisco devices including the new Cisco Catalyst 4000 Series Ethernet in the First Mile solutions. It also supports services such as remote access, VPN and firewall, broadband, wireless and voice for improved scalability and performance.
Cisco Secure ACS now also includes a new Device Command Sets (DCS) policy engine, which can extend network access privileges across large groups of users and various network device groupings for added scalability. This gives customers easier network access control and maximium flexibility to enforce and change security policies over the entire network.
"With the evolving network infrastructure, it is increasingly important that access to vital corporate resources are vigilantly monitored and controlled. Cisco's identity management solutions, including Cisco Secure ACS, address this trend, enabling security, control and administration for the growing population of users that connect to the network." said Jim Metzler, vice president, Ashton Metzler and Associates.
Cisco's identity management framework includes ACS 3.0 and the Cisco Secure User Registration Tool (URT). Together, they offer a comprehensive solution to secure and manageable user access control and user security policies for the entire range of Cisco Catalyst switch solutions including and across the widest range of desktop operating systems.
Pricing and Availability
The Cisco Secure Access Control Server (ACS) 3.0 for Windows 2000 and NT is now available for $5999 USD.
