Microsoft has applauded the fact that it has achieved the 100 partner milestone with the Network Access Protection. NAP is a policy enforcement platform integrated into Windows Vista, and into Windows Server 2007 (codename Longhorn). Microsoft has informed that in excess of 40 NAP solutions will be showcased at the RSA Conference in San Francisco the coming week.

"The Network Access Protection ecosystem reads like a who's who of the networking and security industries, from networking hardware vendors like Juniper and Nortel to security appliances, SSL (secure sockets layer) VPNs (virtual private networks) and other access technologies, patch management vendors, and anti-virus companies," said Mark Ashida, general manager of Enterprise Networking Servers at Microsoft. "Together, Microsoft and its partners have built a wide array of applications and end-to-end solutions to better serve customers."

The management of system health requirements compliance is in concert with network assets protection, and NAP enables the creation of customized health validation policies. Moreover, system administrator will be able to control the access, communications, updates deployment via NAP policies.

"McAfee strongly supports the efforts from Microsoft to create a network access control standard that security vendors can easily adopt," said Rees Johnson, vice president of product management at McAfee Inc. "McAfee VirusScan Enterprise works with Microsoft NAP today, providing our customers with an added layer of protection to help secure their networks and enforce security policies across their organizations."

At the level of 100 partners backing Microsoft NAP, the initiative has grown to the status of the largest partner ecosystem for network access control.