ForeScout Extends NAC-As-A-Service Into The MSP Community

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

ForeScouts 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 defenses and automate policy-based controls while optimizing 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 organizations seeking to reduce operational risks, better utilize 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.

IT organizations are coping with growing demand for greater and more varied access to network resources while at the same time managing the inherit risks of personal and mobile devices in their enterprise. NAC solutions offers the authenticated control, endpoint compliance and mobile security functions needed to address these issues, said Robert Ayoub, global program director in Frost & Sullivans information and communications technology practice. We believe ForeScouts NAC deployment and management advantages as well as service provider packaging assure MSPs greater opportunity to successfully deliver NAC-as-a-Service.

Given the regulatory compliance issues affecting the industry today, along with an ever-increased 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 our portfolio of network and security solutions to meet these needs.

"Network access control and endpoint compliance are vital components of a layered defense model to assure secure and authorized network connectivity," said Oscar Perez, manager of IT Services at DTXT, in Mexico. "Our customers have had great success with ForeScout CounterACT and we are pleased to offer the solution, which complements our portfolio of managed services."

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 customers network or security infrastructure

Service-ready, with a built-in and customizable array of device identification and auto-classification capabilities with extensible network access, endpoint compliance, guest networking and threat prevention security policies

IT organizations 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 CounterACTs 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, customizable reporting

Scalability: CounterACT Enterprise Manager, delivered as a physical or virtual appliance, not only manages multiple distributed CounterACT appliances, but also offers centralized 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 ForeScout Achieves MSPAlliance Vendor Accreditation

Cupertino, Calif. November 1, 2011 ForeScout Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of automated security control solutions for Fortune 1000 enterprises and government organizations, today announced that the company has been accredited under the MSPAlliance (MSPA) Vendor Accreditation Program (VAP). VAP is the first program of its kind, specifically designed by Managed Service Providers (MSPs) as a benchmark for vendors who sell to the MSP community. Also today, the company separately announced availability of its award-winning CounterACT network access control (NAC) as a platform for hosted and managed service providers (MSPs).

ForeScouts vendor accreditation is under the MSPAlliance (MSPA) Vendor Accreditation Program (VAP). Vendors who bear the VAP seal have shown they abide by the highest principles of quality in areas such as financial stability, positive channel practices, product research and development, and MSP customer satisfaction.

The Vendor Accreditation Program is important to MSPs, since companies that receive accreditation have demonstrated their ongoing commitment to the channel, said Charles Weaver, president of the MSPAlliance. "We continue to attract industry leading vendors that can extend significant value to our community and we are pleased to have ForeScout achieve accreditation.

Joining the MSPAlliance as an accredited vendor coincides with the companys announcement of introducing its award winning CounterACT network access control (NAC) solution as a cloud platform targeting hosted and managed service providers (MSPs). 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.

Service providers are looking to extend their managed security services beyond firewall, IPS, VPN and anti-virus offerings. Beyond the added value and differentiation a new service can yield, service providers must consider the ease at which the service can be implemented, the ability to leverage available internal resources and the customer installed base, and what level of service guarantees can be delivered, said Bojan Simic, research analyst with TRAC Research. "With increased network access threats and adoption of personal and mobile devices in the corporate network, ForeScout has packaged the right product at the right time for MSPs to take advantage of helping their customers build out necessary defenses.

ForeScouts CounterACT platform, proven in private and hybrid 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 defenses and automate policy-based controls while optimizing security expertise and capital expenditure. ForeScout invites its channel partners and service providers to explore the CounterACT MSP platform at www.forescout.com/msp.

The MSPAlliance is a well-respected platform for peer and vendor collaboration on trends, issues, opportunities and technologies within the MSP community," said Scott Gordon, vice president of worldwide marketing. We look forward to participating in the alliance and enabling CounterACT to best support service providers and their customers.

About MSPAlliance

For more than 10 years, the MSPAlliance has served as the chief advocate and unified voice for the Managed Services industry, and is the only organization that promotes the highest level of professionalism, reliability and integrity. As the worlds largest Professional Association and Certifying Body for the Managed Services Industry, the MSPAlliance was created to meet the needs of the Managed Services Professional and to educate the end-user community and ecosystem-at-large on the benefits of utilizing a Managed Service Provider. For additional information, please visit http://www.mspalliance.com/. To access the MSPNews site, please visit http://www.mspnews.com/.

About ForeScout Technologies, Inc. ForeScout enables its customers to unleash the full power of their network through enterprise-class security and control. ForeScouts automated solutions for network access control, mobile security, threat prevention and endpoint compliance empower organizations 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 worlds most secure enterprises and military installations for global deployments spanning 37 countries. Headquartered in Cupertino, California, ForeScout delivers its solutions through its network of authorized partners worldwide. Learn more at www.forescout.com.