A new initiative to develop open-source security solutions was born Monday, with the announcement that six companies were jointly creating a new alliance called OpenSEA. The networking and security technology companies forming the new alliance are Symantec, Extreme Networks, Identity Engines, Infoblox, TippingPoint, and Trapeze Networks. The 802.1X supplicant is essentially the client side of a client/server authentication handshake.
The name OpenSEA refers not to a sailor’s vision of the beckoning ocean, but to Open Secure Edge Access. The group’s first project is to develop a cross-platform, open-source 802.1X supplicant using the Firefox Web browser as a model. The statement said that Xsupplicant uses a modular architecture to enable extensions, including new authentication types and integration with other security components.
The alliance is looking to help extend Xsupplicant with key functionality, including support for Windows XP, a robust GUI, and an API for extensibility. Based in the UK, JANET serves 18 million users as a network that connects education and research organizations in the UK to each other and to the rest of the planet. The United Kingdom Education and Research Networking Association, or UKERNA, manages JANET.
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