Insightix recruits partners to sell agent-less NAC security product in U.S. |
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By Colin Steele, News Writer
28 Sep 2007 | SearchITChannel.com |
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Insightix, an Israel-based security vendor, is making a new push in the United States by selling its agent-less network access control (NAC) security product primarily through the channel.
About 10 value-added resellers (VARs) and systems integrators (SIs) have already signed on to sell Insightix NAC, and the company is now recruiting more partners and increasing its sales force, said Bill Lavelle, the recently hired vice president of sales. The agent-less technology will reduce the cost and complexity that makes it difficult for VARs and SIs to sell and deploy traditional NAC security products, he said.
Joe Luciano, one of Insightix's first U.S. partners, agreed. But Luciano, the CEO and cofounder of the King of Prussia, Pa.-based AccessIT Group, said it will likely be a while before he and other partners start reaping those benefits. Although "NAC is a real popular topic in the field," partners still need time to educate customers about the technology, he said.
"We don't expect to sell anything in the next three, four months, the next quarter," he added. "But we want to get on the radar."
Traditionally, NAC works by inspecting devices before and after they access the network to make sure they don't violate policies set by users. But most NAC security products are vendor-centric and require in-depth changes to networking infrastructure before they can integrate with other vendors' hardware and software, Luciano said.
"They don't take into account the fact that customers have mixed environments," he said.
Dan Yachin, a research director for IDC, agreed, saying, "NAC deployment is a pain in a lot of organizations."
Insightix NAC does not require those major network changes. Instead, it works by monitoring all devices on the network in real time and checking them against users' policies. Devices that the policies do not allow are blocked from accessing the network.
"It's pretty much an appliance that you pop into the network," Luciano said.
Insightix NAC is not the only agent-less NAC security product on the market, but it gives users better management and policy-setting capabilities than the others, Yachin said. Its biggest advantage is that, unlike traditional NACs, it can detect all devices on a network, he said.
"You are only as strong as your weakest link," he added.
Insightix currently does most of its business in Europe, where its NAC security product is "gaining popularity," Yachin said.
Lavelle, the former vice president of sales at Check Point -- a 100% channel vendor -- said he would like Insightix to have five or six "go-to" partners in each major U.S. metropolitan area. He is targeting large SIs and regional and national VARs to sell to large customers.
"Where the money is is going to be the enterprise," he said.
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