December 9, 2004

By Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Principal Analyst, Nemertes Research

This week Nortel (NYSE:NT) announced the enhancement of its portfolio of security solutions which highlights the importance of comprehensive or “holistic” security. Nortel introduced a new version of its VPN gateway that provides a common platform for both IPSec and SSL VPNs which greatly simplifies management and removes the need for two platforms. Nortel also announced the Nortel Threat Protection System (TPS) which includes IDS/IPS sensors and management software based on SourceFire, the makers of the popular open-source IDS “snort”. Finally Nortel announced an alliance with Symantec aimed at delivering enterprise security capabilities to enterprises and service providers.

Nortel’s set of announcements indicate the importance of a comprehensive security portfolio for network equipment vendors, which addresses IT executives’ need to manage security in a holistic manner. Furthermore, its decision to partner with SourceFire to deliver IDS/IPS capabilities shows the increasing adoption and recognition of open-source business models and platforms among security managers.

The complete Impact Analysis is available to Nemertes clients. For more information, please contact Chris Zimmerman at christine@nemertes.com