Given a sharp nudge from federal and state mandates, the security focus has shifted from intruders and malware to data protection and the insider threat — and the likes of Vontu, Reconnex, Oakley Networks, and PortAuthority are meeting the challenge.

Another emerging category we’re watching closely is policy-based network access control, where nimble specialists such as Caymas, Elemental Security, and Vernier are in front of lumbering NAC initiatives driven by Cisco, Microsoft, and the Trusted Computing Group’s Trusted Network Connect.

Elsewhere, the year’s top dogs included SonicWall in firewalls, McAfee in IPS, and F5 in VPNs. As per usual, IronPort and Symantec led in mail security and anti-spam.

To view summary evaluations of every Security product from 2006, download the PDF of this section from InfoWorld IT Exec-Connect.

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