Symantec Corp. today announced it has extended its Symantec Network Access Control software with new features that enable enterprises to more easily enforce network access control across all managed and unmanaged endpoints. It is the only network access control (NAC) product to offer remote scanning in addition to both persistent and dissolvable agents, and to offer agentless NAC enforcement, Mac OS X agent support, and an integrated 802.1X supplicant in a single product.

"Through offering a software product that integrates three assessment options: persistent agents, dissolvable agents, and remote vulnerability scanning, Symantec provides a thorough solution for evaluating endpoints on the LAN," says Chris Liebert, senior analyst, Yankee Group. "Enterprises have multiple requirements for evaluating endpoints that may be managed, unmanaged, with disparate operating systems and that require both wired and wireless network access."

The addition of Symantec Network Access Control Scanner's agentless assessment functionality provides an enterprise with a third means to evaluate or assess the health of endpoints connecting to their networks. This includes endpoints not managed by the organization, such as guest users, non-Windows endpoints (i.e. UNIX systems) and networked devices (i.e. printers). With the addition of the agentless scanner, the Symantec Enforcement Agent for Mac OS X, and the integrated 802.1X supplicant, Symantec Network Access Control extends its lead as the most flexible and deployable network access control software product.

"Symantec Network Access Control holds a significant advantage over other solutions because it can be deployed immediately without waiting for emerging standards, across a wide range of a company's existing environments," said Brad Kingsbury, vice president, product delivery, Endpoint Security, Symantec Corp. "Symantec Network Access Control is not built on proprietary protocols and therefore does not restrict a customer's ability to deploy it across all their various environments" - Symantec.