University of Rhode Island Implements Safe•Connect™ NAC

Impulse Point, provider of the most scalable network access control solution for large enterprise networks, and the University of Rhode Island, announced recently that the Safe•Connect™ NAC solution is being deployed in residential and administrative areas of the university, providing the capability to manage 20,000 devices simultaneously. The University of Rhode Island recently completed a study of available network access control solutions, selecting Impulse Point from multiple NAC vendors. The university developed a comprehensive evaluation matrix to compare NAC solutions, prioritizing features and weighting factors to gather the empirical data that would result in a decision.

As part of the due diligence of selecting a network access control (NAC) solution, the university went through the sales demonstration process with other vendors and products. “But after seeing Impulse and Safe•Connect, the other products left something to be desired. The pitches reinforced the fact that we wanted Safe•Connect,” says Alan White, Information Security Architect at the University of Rhode Island. “Safe•Connect provided the ease of installation and management we were looking for; everything was preloaded and it only took about an hour to install. Safe•Connect also comes with a Managed Service program. We don’t have to worry about upgrades or troubleshooting. It’s all taken care of without having to dedicate resources to it.”

Safe•Connect replaces an existing, commercially available NAC system previously installed on the residential network at the university. “We’re pleased to be able to provide the University of Rhode Island with a NAC solution that meets their enterprisewide network needs,” says Jenny Ireland, Regional Business Development Executive. “URI has a very knowledgeable team and conducted a significant amount of research on NAC.”

Safe•Connect is an NAC solution that easily integrates into vendor-diverse network environments with minimum hardware components or management overhead by delivering a switch independent alternative to isolate noncompliant endpoint devices at Layer2. Safe•Connect is also compatible with 802.1x, providing the flexibility to quarantine users at the router, switch, or endpoint device.

Designed for highly scalable and vendor-diverse environments, Impulse Point’s Safe•Connect™ Open Network Access Control (OpenNAC) solution enables organizations to automate and enforce end-user authentication, antivirus, antispyware, Microsoft security patches, P2P file sharing, and custom endpoint security policies. The result is a more secure, reliable, and predictable IT network infrastructure. Impulse Point (www.impulse.com) is headquartered in Florida and is one of Tampa Bay’s premier technology innovators.