27 October 2006

One of the major challenges in implementing a converged network is having a coherent security policy for the management and control of a system that is carrying voice, video and data.

Standards such as BS7799, the British Standard for information security management, and its international counterpart, ISO 27001, provide a useful checklist. BS7799 is a mature standard, having first been published in 1995, and it has recently had its third major revision. However, it is virtually useless without practical, prior knowledge of implementing network security.

Companies providing security management software include Cisco, 3Com, Avaya, Mitel, Siemens, Nortel and Microsoft, among others.