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Study: Small NAC Vendors Keep Customers

Current Analysis announced the availability of their annual Network Access Control study

STERLING, Va. -- Current Analysis today announced the availability of their annual Network Access Control (NAC) study. Among the results are indications that although the large brand name vendors are capturing – and establishing – initial mindshare, smaller players are solidly establishing themselves among loyal groups of customers.

The Current Analysis NAC study examines the technical, business, and operational issues that are influencing enterprise adoption of NAC solutions. This is the second annual tracking study of the evolution and maturation of this hot market. As with the 2006 study from Current Analysis, the findings provide a detailed view of the competitive landscape and business demand for NAC technology. This year’s data set includes 290 highly qualified respondents - all directly involved in the use or selection of NAC technologies in their organizations.

The study measures two key metrics: (1) “Vendor Attraction”, which is the percentage of respondents who would consider the vendor for a NAC solution, even though they are not currently NAC customers of that vendor, and (2) “Vendor Retention”, which is the percentage of respondents who are NAC customers of the vendor and would consider the same vendor for future NAC investments.

Table 1:

Vendor Attraction Scores*
Cisco (NAC appliance) 45%
Cisco (CNAC) 41%
Microsoft 21%
Check Point 15%
Juniper Networks 15%
Sygate/Symantec 13%
3Com/Tipping Point 12%
Trend Micro 12%
McAfee/Foundstone 11%
HP Procurve 11%
IBM Tivoli 10%
Nortel 7%
Computer Associates 5%
Bradford Networks 1%
* Only companies whose customers made up at least 5% of the total sample are listed.

Table 2:

Vendor Retention Scores*
Computer Associates 81%
Juniper Networks 80%
Bradford Networks 78%
Check Point 71%
Nortel 71%
HP Procurve 69%
Cisco (CNAC) 68%
Cisco (NAC appliance) 67%
Microsoft 65%
McAfee/Foundstone 63%
Sygate/Symantec 60%
3Com/Tipping Point 59%
IBM Tivoli 58%
Trend Micro 43%
* Only companies whose customers made up at least 5% of the total sample are listed.

“This year's NAC study demonstrates again that no vendor can match Cisco in its ability to attract attention to its NAC solutions, and this is true for both its NAC appliance and the broader CNAC framework. What is interesting, however, is that many vendors are clearly meeting market demands and satisfying customer needs for NAC functionality and this includes several of the smaller pure play vendors,” said Andrew Braunberg, Research Director, Enterprise Software and Security.

Current Analysis