A wave of new security initiatives is rising as software makers and equipment suppliers realise that they must work together to keep networks more secure.

Networking vendors Cisco Systems and Enterasys Networks have already announced partnership programmes with security vendors, and now software giant Microsoft has gotten into the game with its own partnership programme, intended to eventually link security policies from security devices, management software and networking equipment.

Microsoft's initiative is the most comprehensive of these partnership programmes to date. On Tuesday, the company announced partnerships with 25 systems integrators and security, management and networking companies. Using a new technology it calls Network Access Protection, which will be added in the R2 update of Windows Server in late 2005, security policies can be set on the Microsoft remote access servers and linked to policies throughout the network, the company said.

By Marguerite Reardon at ZDNet.

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