Juniper Networks takes on complex legacy network access control (NAC), introducing its own cloud-based, Mist AI-driven solution. It also enhanced its Marvis virtual network assistant (VNA) with the ChatGPT integration.

Traditional NAC services built using on-premises overlay hardware are often complex and brittle to deploy, operate and authenticate the devices, while lacking agility and ability to scale, noted Christian Gilby, senior director of product marketing at Juniper Networks.

Juniper’s Mist Access Assurance service is built on the technologies from its WiteSand acquisition. The networking vendor bought the cloud-native, zero-trust NAC startup last year and integrated the technology into its Mist portfolio in a bid to compete against Cisco’s Identity Services Engine and Aruba Networks’ Clearpass NACs.