Prior to the deployment of an access control solution supporting the 802.1X protocol, a complete and accurate discovery and documentation of all network-attached devices and their respected capabilities is required. This is to allow accurate pre-planning identifying issues that must be resolved prior to the deployment and enablement of the solution. The following are examples for some of those issues:

The information about the network-attached devices must be current and up to date allowing determining the appropriate role and access rights a device is to receive once it is being attached to the network in accordance of its capabilities.

Most enterprises do not maintain information about unmanaged devices. If they have tried a traditional asset inventory solution they would still be unable to uncover information for an additional 20%- 50% of the devices residing on the enterprise network.

To properly roll out a comprehensive access control solution all unmanaged devices need to be discovered and classified; in order to enable enforcement for all devices.

Insightix BSA is an agentless solution that enables an efficient deployment of network access control (NAC) solutions supporting the 802.1X protocol across enterprise networks of various scale and complexity by detecting, identifying, profiling, and auditing ALL devices connected to a network, in real-time. Utilizing unique profiling technology, Insightix BSA gathers and maintains meaningful network, device and user intelligence, thereby reducing ambiguity and enabling better decision making based on accurate and in-depth audit information.

Insightix BSA maintains a comprehensive profile for each device operating on the enterprise network according to its device type. An asset profile may include multiple parameters: MAC address, VLAN ID, VLAN name, IP address, device type, device capability, operating system, operating system type, patch information, switch and port connected to, open network services, user intelligence information, and other device centric properties.

The information provided by BSA Visibility allows IT managers to better understand the type of devices connecting to their networks. Furthermore, an accurate pre-planning of the deployment an 802.1X-based solution is possible identifying issues that must be resolved prior to the deployment and enablement of the solution. Few examples are herein made:

In order to enable access controls against all devices residing on the enterprise network it is essential to classify a device knowing whether it is capable of user-based authentication or not. This is to allow determining the appropriate role and access rights the device is to receive once it is being attached to the network, preventing a situation in which an device which does not fit into the criteria for authenticated network access, or do not have a user and cannot be authenticated, is required authentication.

BSA Visibility continuously provides with real-time network intelligence classifying the devices, which are being attached to the network. The information provided by BSA Visibility allows third party solutions to dynamically associate appropriate roles and access rights for ALL devices, capable or not of user-based authentication, based on their asset classification.