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Juniper Networks (News - Alert) has expanded its network and security management capabilities. The company’s Network and Security Manager (NSM) is now capable of delivering unified management functions across Juniper the routing, switching and security network infrastructure in a more efficient manner.

 

The new version of the Network and Security Manager offers centralized management for Juniper Networks J-series services routers, EX-series Ethernet switches, Secure Access SSL VPN and firewall/VPN and Intrusion (News - Alert) Detection and Prevention appliances. NSM handles the basic setup and network configuration with local and global security policy deployment for these products.

 

Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at the Information Security division of Enterprise Strategy Group, pointed out that IT organizations support high performance businesses that demand cost effective, comprehensive solutions. Oltsik said his IT organizations need systems able to provide lower cost of ownership, improve management efficiency and also effectively leverage existing network and security investments.

 

According to Juniper Networks, the key features of the Network and Security Manager include its ability to provide consistent monitoring across Juniper network and security products, implementation of policy changes network-wide to guard against security threats, policy versioning with rollback capabilities, efficient network-wide control with centralized management, XML schema-based management architecture for extensibility, open, standard northbound SOAP/XML API for ease of integration and role-based administration.

 

"Network administrators need a cost-effective, comprehensive solution that can easily and effectively manage the evolving network and security infrastructure with centralized management rather than using multiple management tools to control each device on the network," Oltsik said.

 

Glenn Hudler, an Information Officer for the International Finance Corp., a member of the World Bank Group, said Juniper Networks NSM helped his company improve responsiveness to threats. He added that the NSM system had reduced operational costs and ensured investment protection without compromising on performance or functionality.

 

According to Juniper officials, the latest NSM also allows companies to centrally manage comprehensive Juniper Networks adaptive threat management and access control solutions. The solutoin leverages interoperability between security components to provide network-wide visibility and control in order to adapt to changing risks.

Juniper Networks Access Control Solution is a network access control (NAC) security solution that protects vital network resources and applications by provisioning secure local access across the distributed enterprise.

 

"With our latest capabilities in NSM, device technicians, network administrators, and security administrators can now work together to improve management efficiency and security, reduce overhead, and lower operating costs," said Mike Harding, vice president at Juniper’s Network Management division.

 

Founded in 1996, Juniper Networks is based in Sunnyvale, California. Its products include T-series, M-series, E-series, MX-series, and J-series families of routers, EX-series Ethernet switches, WX-series WAN optimization devices, and SRC Session and Resource Control appliances.