Cisco announces security push

NEWS Lending new credence to the saying, "the more, the merrier," Cisco Systems is to announce 14 security products and services. The offerings are part of the company's new aim to provide end-to-end security for its customers, including selling more software to a platform that Cisco has rarely touched: the corporate desktop PC. Jeff Platon, senior director of product and technology marketing at Cisco, said: "Companies are looking for a single, integrated solution in the form of a single provider, to keep control of their networks. Using three different boxes and three applications to control them is not going to cut it anymore." The updated and new products include three security management products, three hardware-based accelerators for the company's VPN (virtual private network) products, and five new components to its intrusion detection system, one of which protects desktop PCs from potential threats and another that does the same for servers. Three others, including a new version of the company's VPN client for desktop PCs, are also due to be announced. Charles Kolodgy, research director for market research company IDC, said: "Cisco aims to be a major provider of security by embedding it into their routers and systems and (by moving) to more desktop and host server security." Cisco has already signaled its intention to move into other markets from which it traditionally has shied away, such as the home. In March, the company said it would buy consumer-oriented network hardware maker Linksys in a stock deal worth about $500m.