And because Network Access Protection (NAP, Microsoft's version of NAC) comes with Vista and Windows Server 2008, deciding to go with Microsoft has become a no-brainer for many customers. NAP represents a clear choice, rather than a technology that requires extensive research, RFPs, product tests and evaluations, and so forth.

NAP even proved itself in a recent product evaluation Forrester Research performed to determine which NAC tools would solve real-world deployment problems. Microsoft came in first, followed by Cisco and Juniper Networks.

This year the questions for customers will be where do we deploy NAC, and how many NAC features do we turn on? Most customers today are using NAC just to control guest access. That's important, but the technology can do more. On the pre-admission side, it can scan user devices, determine whether they are clear of viruses, check to see if patches have been updated and quarantine the device if security conditions aren't met. On the post-admission side, it can make sure that a clean machine remains that way, and that users access only those parts of the network to which they have authorization.

These important functions are ones that every IT exec should be implementing.

10 Gigabit Ethernet

In 2001, when 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches were introduced, the average per-port cost was $39,000, according to IDC.

Today, a 10G Ethernet port costs less than $4,000, which makes 10G Ethernet switches affordable for the enterprise wiring closet or data center.

With ongoing data-center server consolidation, not to mention the needs of service providers and high-volume Web sites, standards groups and vendors are hard at work on 40 Gigabit Ethernet and even 100 Gigabit Ethernet. For now, however, 10G Ethernet is the industry standard, and customers are flocking to 10G Ethernet switches. Switch-based 10G Ethernet port shipments grew by 140% in 2007, Infonetics Research reports. Worldwide revenue for 10G Ethernet services and equipment will hit nearly $9.5 billion by year-end, a 30% increase from last year, the firm predicts.

If your Fast Ethernet boxes are becoming stressed, this might be the time to move to 10G Ethernet. Per-port prices are coming down and feature sets are going up. A recent Network World test of seven 10G Ethernet switches found these products offer not only powerful packet-pushing capabilities but also 802.1X authentication, enhanced multicast support, protection against denial-of-service attacks and IPv6 support. The test demonstrated that these switches have extensive management and security features, which are just as important as how many packets they can move per second.