Microsoft Brings a Piece of Windows Vista to Linux and Mac OS X

Microsoft has announced that it will bring a small piece of Vista to both the open source Linux operating system and the UNIX based Mac OS X. The Redmond company's partners will work to extend Network Access Protection to Linux and OS X desktops.

NAP was developed as a Microsoft initiative designed to protect vulnerable machines from compromising when accessing or communicating on a network. The end purpose of NAP is to safeguard computers that have not deployed the latest patches for the operating system or the last antivirus updates from being compromised. The technology is not restricted to Windows Vista.

Microsoft introduced "key additions to the Network Access Protection (NAP) ecosystem with new third-party products that extend NAP to Macintosh and Linux desktops, as well as the first NAP-powered appliance. The new products will extend NAP, a policy enforcement platform built into the Windows Vista operating system and the upcoming versions of Windows Server 2008 and Windows XP SP 3, to non-Microsoft operating systems in heterogeneous network environments," the company revealed.

Three Microsoft partners announced support for the extending of NAP to Linux and Mac OS X. UNETsystem, Avenda Systems and Celestix Networks will all offer products set up to permit Linux and Macintosh desktops to leverage the NAP technology. In this context, UNETsystem's Anyclick for NAP, Avenda Linux Network Access Protection Agent and an appliance from Celestix Networks will all ensure that Windows rival platforms can benefit from NAP. According to the latest statistics from the Redmond company, NAP has already been deployed on in excess of 150,000 desktops worldwide, 70,000 of which at Microsoft.

"NAP is a policy enforcement platform built into Microsoft® Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows XP Service Pack 3 that allows you to better protect network assets by enforcing compliance with system health requirements. With NAP, you can create customized health policies to validate computer health before allowing access or communication, automatically update compliant computers to ensure ongoing compliance, and optionally confine noncompliant computers to a restricted network until they become compliant," reads Microsoft's description of NAP.

source: news.softpedia.com

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