HP has announced that its ProCurve network policy management system is now compatible with Microsoft's network access protection (NAP) technology.

Kevin Porter, global security solutions manager of HP's ProCurve unit, said that its pre-authentication system, ProCurve Identity Driven Manager (PIDM), could now take the results of a system health check from NAP and decide whether a user should be allowed network access.

Porter said that PIDM could control who and what connects to the network and how they connect to the network. "I may not want them to connect to back-office data in the lobby, whereas sat at their normal desks, that would be OK," he added.

PIDM version 2.3 uses a secure access wizard to take you through how to simplify the configuration of the network.

"In Windows Server 2003, virtual private network (VPN) connectivity was comprehensively checked and IT managers pointed out to us how good that was, but they also said - 'what about the 95 per cent that don't connect through a VPN?' – NAP sorts this out," said Microsoft's EMEA Windows Server 2008 product manager Gareth Hall.

Hall advised IT managers thinking of a NAP rollout to "pilot first and after this deploy in 'reporting mode'".

"When a sufficient percentage of systems comply, that's the time to turn on enforcement mode," he added.