Brocade and McAfee Enter Partnership

Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. and McAfee, Inc. have entered a strategic partnership to deliver a broad set of fully interoperable end-to-end network security solutions.

As part of the partnership, Brocade will work in conjunction with McAfee to integrate critical security capabilities into the Brocade family of networking products. The pairing of leading-edge Brocade networking products with McAfee’s extensive security capabilities enables customers to deploy and maintain highly reliable and secure network environments – from endpoint to the edge and the core – that are protected against a wide range of security threats, including malicious activities, data breaches, network intrusions and policy violations.

As a part of an open technology architecture approach, Brocade and McAfee are collaborating on a set of jointly designed, interoperable solutions developed specifically to address the network security needs of enterprise customers.

The combined Brocade and McAfee
network security solutions will include:

• McAfee Firewall Enterprise and intrusion prevention technologies operating with the Brocade NetIron MLX Series of high-performance routers, which are optimally configured to defend large enterprise network cores against external threats.
• Firewall scalability with Brocade ServerIron application delivery controllers that load-balance the McAfee Firewall Enterprise technology, providing full protection against Denial of Service (DoS) and SYN attacks while enabling high-performance, always-on, secure firewall service.
• Controlling and monitoring access to the network with the McAfee Network Access Control (NAC) solution interoperating with Brocade FastIron CX and FastIron WS compact edge switches to secure the network access layer.
• Enabling the network infrastructure to take automated actions in response to security events generated from McAfee network access control, intrusion prevention, and firewall solutions with Brocade IronView® Network Manager through open-standard network management protocols.

These solutions are being delivered under a new agreement that enables this first phase of a multi-year relationship between the two companies. The next stage will involve extending the network management integration to further utilize metrics and security intelligence information.

The concern over security has increasingly become a critical consideration within the IT infrastructure at all levels in the network. This issue is further compounded by the increasing volume of data traffic being transferred between a growing number of access points, such as personal computers and mobile devices. Many organizations are finding that they must address security risk from multiple fronts to meet the evolving threat landscape, as network vulnerability can inevitably result in lost revenue and lower customer confidence, and negatively impact brand credibility.

In addition, large enterprises must consistently comply with new industry and government regulatory requirements and reconcile them with existing corporate policies, which add yet another layer of complexity to the network security equation. As a result, the gap is narrowing between the networking and security organizations within IT environments, and the collective functions and responsibilities are becoming more important than ever.

According to a recent survey on IT spending intentions conducted by Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), information security initiatives ranked in the top four among a list of 25 IT priority areas for 2010. In particular, network security was considered to be a top priority among IT managers for the coming year, as “increased Internet and internal bandwidth demand faster network security systems” that can protect data within all levels of the networking environment.

“The ever-changing threat landscape coupled with convergence in the campus LAN arena calls for the integration of best-in-class networking and security products,” said Jon Oltsik, senior principal analyst at ESG. “In today’s challenging and competitive business climate, enterprises must constantly keep a watchful eye across the entire network infrastructure to preempt a possible attack and be prepared to act if the unexpected occurs.”

“Keeping data secure is a battle that must be waged on multiple fronts, especially at the network level,” said Dan Ryan, executive vice president and general manager of the Network Security business unit at McAfee. “Working with Brocade to bring a comprehensive set of network security solutions to market makes perfect sense – the coupling of the strengths of both companies is expected to deliver a set of solutions that customers can depend on to protect their most valuable data assets.”

“Brocade’s vision is for network services to enable customers to securely connect anytime from anywhere in a globally competitive marketplace. This vision is becoming a reality through partnerships with top companies like McAfee, with which Brocade has a natural synergy that has culminated in the development of highly reliable, best-of-breed network security solution sets,” said Marc Randall, senior vice president of Products and Offerings at Brocade. “Recognizing the eventual integration and overlap of security within the network environment, we are taking a proactive approach to offering customers a set of proven solutions that provide greater choice and flexibility in the marketplace.”

By integrating a broad range of Brocade IP networking products with industry-leading McAfee products spanning the entire security spectrum – from firewall to intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS) to network access control (NAC) – customers will be able to deploy and maintain an effective end-to-end security solution throughout their entire network. Because the available solution sets have undergone an extensive testing process, customers will benefit from knowing that these solutions are compatible and proven to operate in demanding network environments. The combined Brocade and McAfee solution represents the first of what is expected to be several jointly developed network security solution sets to be unveiled in the coming months and years.

These solutions are available today through select value-added resellers.