Alcatel-Lucent revamps OmniSwitch network OS

Alcatel-Lucent promises network access with no threat to corporate assets

Alcatel-Lucent has unveiled a new operating system for its OmniSwitch family of local area network switches.

The platform boasts an advanced set of security, access and policy features designed to help IT departments better manage their networks and deliver network access to employees and guests while still securing corporate assets.

"IT departments want and need security solutions that are effective and easy to deploy," said Michel Emelianoff, vice president of enterprise security solutions at Alcatel-Lucent.

"Alcatel-Lucent provides a set of global capabilities that enables any company or IT manager to secure their network quickly and easily and recognise a broader business value in policy-enabled security."

A major addition to the platform is the ability for administrators to easily define user profiles, which are mapped to both network and security policies, allowing the unification of access control for users and devices across an entire network.

This combined approach means that individual roles can be generated that define access for network, application, priority, bandwidth and compliance, according to Alcatel-Lucent.

The new platform also offers the option of 'captive portal' as an explicit, web-based user authentication system. This creates a landing page for non-authorised users, from where they will be redirected for authentication before being allowed on to the network. This system builds on the existing Alcatel-Lucent Access Guardian.

The company has also integrated the InfoExpress CyberGatekeeper Host Integrity Check agent into the OmniSwitch to restrict end-user access to remediation servers only.

"Our closer integration with InfoExpress CyberGatekeeper, and this advanced feature set, will enable organisations to protect sensitive corporate information while still supporting evolving technology needs, such as VoIP and mobility, in the enterprise," said Emelianoff.