10/26/2004 -- Unless you’ve been hiding in a networking closet somewhere, you probably know that Cisco Systems last week notched a partnership with Microsoft to share and integrate their security technologies.

The goal, officials say, is to deliver combined offerings that help mutual customers address the growing threat of malicious software in their environments. Given the market share of both companies, analysts say the deal could make for a de facto standard of sorts.

For starters, says Steven Schuchart, an analyst with consultancy Current Analysis Inc., the deal is a natural extension of an already tight relationship.

“Cisco and Microsoft have long collaborated on a wide range of product development projects, leveraging their respective dominance in the OS and network infrastructure markets to present enterprises with solutions based on technologies they have deployed and trust,” he comments. “Extending development efforts out to security is a natural course and will hopefully result in platforms that secure systems from one end of the network to the other.”

Cisco and Microsoft plan to exchange technology information to help achieve some measure of solution compatibility between their respective end-point security programs. Cisco, of course, launched its Network Admissions Control (NAC) program last November, and has since enlisted the support of many vendors in the antivirus and security communities. Microsoft, for its part, is developing a similar program called Network Access Protection (NAP).

In this respect, concedes Schuchart, the announcement is somewhat optimistic. “Microsoft’s NAP software is in development and not due out for some time, making this announcement largely hollow,” he writes, noting that collaboration with Microsoft could pose additional problems for Cisco, especially in the absence of bona-fide technology standards for security and interoperability between end-point devices.

“By partnering with a monopolist, Cisco is in danger of being perceived as ‘forcing’ the market down a proprietary path, regardless of claims of standards setting," he notes. “That perception will make some customers afraid of being locked into Cisco and Microsoft solutions.”

Similarly, speculates Schuchart, the partnership could turn off customers that have embraced Linux or Macintosh desktop solutions. Although given Microsoft’s dominance of the market, this is probably a risk the networking giant is relatively comfortable taking.

Nevertheless, Schuchart sees the deal as a win for Cisco. “Cisco and Microsoft are the undisputed leaders in their respective markets and any action they take together will receive a disproportionate amount of attention by customers, competitors and the media,” he notes.

And because Cisco and Microsoft have said that they’ll work to ensure interoperability between NAC and NAP as both solutions evolve over time, Schuchart sees another upside to the deal, as well: Cisco will probably have a fairly free hand in helping to shape the development of Microsoft’s NAP program. “Because Microsoft’s NAP is currently in development, Cisco will be able to make considerable technological contributions to Microsoft’s efforts and this gives it an advantage as it evolves its own NAC software,” he writes. -Stephen Swoyer