Cisco Systems has denied trying to enforce dominance of the network-embedded security market by limiting third-party anti-virus and other security components that can be used with its self-defending network (SDN) infrastructure.
"It is not impossible to achieve SDNs using non-Cisco solutions, as the company is using common security protocols and already has partnerships with around 90% of the anti-virus vendors," says Matthieu Brignone, Cisco security group marketing manager for Europe and emerging markets.
However, he says the 60% of the market that already has Cisco equipment will find it easier to implement SDNs than those who have to integrate third-party software and appliances.
Brignone also concedes organisations will not be able to use the Cisco`s network admission control framework within an SDN framework without having either Cisco or Cisco-certified components.
"But, Cisco has already got certification partnerships with around 60 companies, including competitors like Symantec and McAfee," he adds.
Future threats
Explaining the need for SDNs at a media briefing on security in London last week, Brignone said Cisco predicted the window of opportunity for developing patches to defend against exploits of system vulnerabilities would soon decrease to a matter of seconds.
"As the speed and complexity of attacks increases, the next step in developing effective security is a proactive and network-based solution, and organisations will have to become more proactive in their approach to security threats," he said.
While emphasising the SDN approach was not exclusive to Cisco, Brignone said the company was driving the concept as the logical continuation of what the whole industry has been doing for the past 10 years in terms of converging software and hardware security solutions.
"Security needs to be an integral and fundamental feature of the network as the base for effective threat control, secure transactions, and confidential communications all managed by a single security policy," he said.
According to Brignone, the aim of SDNs is to enable organisations to achieve unified threat management (UTM) using a combination of integrated security routers, a secure switching infrastructure, and adaptive security appliances.
"Right now, UTM using SDNs appears to be the best way of ensuring real-time threat prevention and security updates as well as correlated security intelligence into the future," he said.
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