Bradford Networks distances themselves from NAC

Bradford Networks fresh off of winning a best buy award in a NAC group test from SC Magazine, yesterday announced an ambitious new line up of solutions based on what they are calling their Adaptive Network Security (ANS) platform.  Network Sentry is the new line and here is what Bradford says it is all about:

1. Protecting the network from unauthorized and at-risk users and devices;
2. Ensuring that confidential network resources are protected;
3. Eliminating endpoint vulnerability;
4. Ensuring that security policies are established and enforced;
5. Maximizing existing investments in security systems and network infrastructure;
6. Provisioning, securing and managing user, device and guest access;
7. Detecting and profiling managed and unmanaged devices; and
8. Automating security actions and policy enforcement to unburden IT staff.

What you don’t see there is NAC or network access control though.  Many of these functions were already accomplished by their NAC Director and guest access NAC products.  But they are clearly choosing to distance themselves from the word NAC.  Hey, who can blame them? 

What remains to be seen is if Bradford has the breath and girth in the market to make this comprehensive vision actually pan out.  They have a great base in the edu market and this could be just the thing to move them beyond that.

Also some of the traditional knocks on Bradford’s NAC product seem to have been addressed in the new release. GUI, set-up and reports all claim to have been upgraded.  I haven’t spoken to anyone yet who has used it to say for sure. 

In any event seems like another vendor trying to move away from NAC. The problem is that many of those who have tried have already spent too much time and effort and didn’t seem to have the fuel necessary to achieve escape velocity. But with Bradford building on what they already have, lets hope it turns out different for them.  Good luck to them and we will have to keep watching.