Verizon Business is upping the ante in the managed security game, adding network access control to its portfolio.

NAC is a potentially complex process of controlling which users and which devices can access a corporation’s extended network. By offering a managed NAC service that includes professional services support, Verizon Business aims to enable more enterprises to use NAC without the accompanying complexity.

Like Qwest's Mobility suite of services announced last week, the Verizon Business NAC announcement represents an effort to push deeper into the managed security service arena to both differentiate from competitors and deliver more value to customers. Verizon Business is taking on enterprise vendors operating in this space and trying to provide a network-based managed service that goes beyond what point solutions can do.

“This offers them a way to secure network resources, to be certain that only authorized users access the network and then only using compliant devices,” said Omar Khawaja, manager of security solutions marketing at Verizon Business. “This represents a convergence of end-point and network security across the extended enterprise, including LANs, WANs, wireless networks, remote access, unmanaged device access and guest access as well.”

Enterprises have greater need for this level of security as they communicate digitally with a broader range of contacts, including not just employees but customers, suppliers, consultants and partners, Khawaja said. But the complexity of implementing NAC, concerns about how it will affect the current network and users, and the need for coordination among the different internal and external organizations involved has prevented many enterprises from deploying NAC, he said. “There are integration challenges, device concerns, deployment concerns,” Khawaja said. “Enterprises don’t want this to disrupt their existing operations or disturb their existing users.”