To address the growing and changing threats to corporate information security, IT needs the best and latest technology available. While Microsoft's Network Access Quarantine Control (NAQC) didn't quite fit the bill, the upcoming Network Access Protection (NAP), to be introduced with Windows Longhorn, is expected to do a better job. Rather than simply allowing IT managers to check the health of incoming Remote Access Service connections, NAP will allow them to do so for both wired and wireless connections, as well as for remote access and for VPN- and LAN-connected devices. To prepare for NAP, take an inventory of your security-related software and query vendors to find out if they will be interoperating with NAP. Make sure that your organization has an internal public key infrastructure deployed, because this is essential for the proper functioning of NAP. Other common requirements might involve deploying an 802.11x infrastructure and/or IPsec security across your Active Directory domain. Also, deploy server and domain isolation within your AD environment using IPsec as an enforcement mechanism. This will serve double duty for you by improving your security levels now while simultaneously preparing you for the new features NAP will provide once Windows Longhorn is released. And start testing the beta software.

Learn more about NAP:
- read the article at TechTarget