In a move to address an ongoing mobile challenges in the enterprise, Cisco Systems on Tuesday announced a new architecture to help business users access information from any device and from any location with better security. At the RSA Conference in San Francisco, Cisco debuted the Cisco Secure Borderless Network architecture.
The platform focuses on what Cisco sees as four critical anchors: Mobile and fixed enterprise end points, the Internet, the data center, and context- and location-aware policies.
Cisco’s first proof points for the new architecture are the just-released AnyConnect Secure Mobility Solution and the expansion of Cisco TrustSec. That expansion aims to help businesses gain more control over policies and maximize information security in an age of web-based collaboration and communication.
Securing Employee Productivity
Tom Gillis, vice president and general manager of security technology at Cisco, said the security needs of businesses are becoming more complex as more employees spend time out of the office accessing the corporate network with a smartphone or laptop.
“As a result, enterprises need a solution that will not hamper employee productivity, while helping to ensure that the network is not exposed to hackers, malware and other threats,” Gillis said. He added that AnyConnect fits the bill by balancing consistent security with access to network-connected devices.
Gillis isn’t just spinning hype. Cisco’s November Securing the Mobile Workforce survey found that 53 percent of the IT executives surveyed said less than half their employees were set up to work remotely, and 21 percent said they have no employees enabled to work remotely. Security concerns were one obstacle.
“Most of the solutions out there are focused on securing the end points. But end-point security is just a small piece of the overall problem,” said Zeus Kerravala, a vice president at the Yankee Group. “Cisco is creating a lot of flexibility for…