ForeScout Enhances Security Platform With New Capabilities, Expands VMware Relationship

ForeScout Technologies is vastly expanding its security portfolio, announcing on Tuesday the launch of platform enhancements and an extended VMware partnership to address security concerns around the data center, cloud and campus IT networks.

ForeScout, based in San Jose, Calif., offers an agent-less visibility and control solution that provides insight into all network-connected devices, including the Internet of Things.

The enhancements to the company's flagship CounterACT system include out-of-the-box or customized classification of devices, including profiling, taxonomy, segmentation, and control policies. The classification works for IoT, OT, mobile and virtual endpoints, the company said.

[Related: CRN Exclusive: ForeScout Launches New Partner Program, Moves Professional Services To Partners]

ForeScout also announced product enhancements around scale and resiliency, expanding its Enterprise Manager to handle over one million devices and fail-over clusters for resiliency. It also rolled out an enhanced user interface for consolidated visibility, policy management and control.

ForeScout also deepened its partnership with VMware, announcing a new data center security solution for VMware environments. The new solution will provide consolidated visibility into software-defined data centers, a policy-based approach to validate virtual machines, automated compliance checks, resource optimization, and more.

In a statement about the launch, CEO and President Michael DeCesare said the new solutions and deeper partnership with VMware will help customers get the security visibility and controls they need across all environments, including both virtual and physical infrastructure systems.

"At ForeScout, we are defining what visibility means to the enterprise and stretching our value proposition to help organizations secure their network as they modernize their infrastructures for greater innovation and business efficiency," DeCesare said in a statement. "Whether moving from a physical campus and data center to a software-defined, multi-vendor environment or adopting IoT devices, our customers rely on ForeScout to see and control everything connecting to their network through our agent-less approach to security."

Rick Grimaldi, chief strategy officer at Brookline, Mass.-based K logix, said in an email that the updates and deepened partnership with VMware help address key security concerns in on-premise and cloud environments.

"Integration with on-premise or cloud-based virtualization platforms is key to providing full visibility into assets that may handle company data and require proper security controls," Grimaldi said.

Grimaldi also said the update to the user interface will be a big benefit, saying it will likely make the solution easier to manage.

The updates build on growing momentum at ForeScout, which landed $76 million in VC funding in 2016, giving the company a valuation of more than $1 billion, and grew double-digits last year. The company has also seen strong traction in the channel and rolled out new updates to its partner program in February.