Can other types of security products play a role in a NAC environment?
Yes. For example, CA’s eTrust antivirus and antispyware software play in Cisco’s NAC environment by delivering status information to Cisco’s Trust Agent. The agent gathers data from the CA software and other software on desktops and laptops to develop a profile of the computers trying to access the network. Similarly, IBM’s Tivoli Security Compliance Manager is Cisco NAC-compatible because it scans machines coming onto the network. By itself it can’t enforce whether the device gains access; it needs infrastructure from Cisco or some other vendor to enforce policy.
