Aruba and HP jump into the OpenSEA

Last year, ESG had the pleasure of participating in an Open Source initiative dedicated to open network security.  This effort led to the formation of the OpenSEA Alliance, an organization composed of leading security and networking vendors including: 3Com/TippingPoint, Extreme Networks, Identity Engines, Infoblox, Symantec, and Trapeze Networks as well as UK education network JA.NET.  Recently, wireless leader Aruba Networks and industry giant HP joined the team.  What does this mean?  See my C/Net blog for more. 

Cisco C-Scape

In December, Cisco held its annual analyst shindig in San Jose.  I for one walked away impressed.  See my C/Net blog for more detail. 

Will John Chambers Run for President in 2012?

Maybe he should.  He's a great communicator and has a very progressive agenda.  See my C/Net blog for more. 

Encryption consolidation

I was sad to see the end of the line for Neoscale in December 2007.  CEO Barbara Nelson and VP of Marketing Dore Rosenblum are wonderful people and I truly enjoyed working with them for a number of years, I wish them well.

Fortunately, some Neoscale assets were picked up by another good company named nCipher.  Richard Moulds and Co. have already established nCipher as an encryption and key management leader.  Perhaps this acquisition can help the company extend its position and help introduce some key management interoperability standards.  See my C/Net blog for more. 

Realities around the "god" box

For years, the concept of a "god" box (industry term, not mine) was dismissed as unrealistic.  It was just too hard to pack layers of functionality and performance in a single system.

This may no longer be true.  Why?  See my C/Net blog for more. 

Cisco And Identity-Based Networking

Just before the end of the year, Cisco introduced its new TrustSec initiative to add identity and role-based policies to the network.  While this isn't a new technology, you can't help but believe that Cisco can really accelerate the trend.  See my recent C/Net column for more. 

Identity Management Niches

Who says that the identity management market has consolidated?  Well, okay it has but there are still lots of niche vendors who will do well in 2008.  Read my C/Net blog for more.