How Cisco Access Manager can lower the barriers to NAC adoption

Network Access Control, or NAC, has been around for a long time. Most IT teams understand the principle: know who and what is connecting to the network, authenticate them, and only give them the level of access they need.

The challenge is that, in practice, NAC has often felt difficult to get off the ground. Traditional deployments can be complex, operationally heavy and, if enforcement is introduced too quickly, disruptive to users and business-critical devices. That is one of the reasons NAC often stays on the roadmap, rather than becoming an active project.

For organisations already using Cisco Meraki, Cisco Access Manager changes the conversation. It gives customers a more practical way to start their NAC journey, without needing to deploy and manage additional NAC infrastructure.

Why is NAC still important?

Business networks now support far more than managed laptops. Employees connect phones and tablets, while offices may also contain cameras, meeting-room equipment, access-control systems and other IoT devices. Some of these devices support modern authentication methods, while others do not.

That creates a few important questions for IT and security teams:

• What is connected to the network?
• Is it known and authorised?
• Who is using it?
• What applications and systems should it be allowed to access?

Without NAC, network access is typically controlled using static mechanisms such as VLANs, IP addresses, switch ports, or firewall rules. That can work up to a point, but it does not always reflect the reality of modern environments, where users and devices move, roles change and unmanaged devices appear on the network.

NAC allows access decisions to be based on who or what is connecting, rather than solely where they connect from.

For example, a corporate laptop can be granted access to business applications, while a guest device is restricted to internet access only. An IoT device can be automatically placed into a restricted network segment and allowed to communicate only with the services it requires.

The goal is simple: give the right level of access to the right user or device, while reducing unnecessary exposure across the network.

Why NAC has traditionally been difficult

While the objective is straightforward, the deployment has not always been. A traditional NAC deployment can involve RADIUS servers, certificate services, identity integrations, endpoint configuration and detailed policies for different users and device types. Certificates provide strong authentication, but they also need to be managed throughout their lifecycle. Some devices do not support 802.1X at all, so alternative approaches are needed. There is also the operational risk to consider. If policies are applied too broadly or too quickly, legitimate users or important devices can lose access. For organisations with multiple sites, limited IT resources or a large mix of device types, that complexity can be enough to slow adoption.

How can Cisco Access Manager help?

Cisco Access Manager provides cloud-delivered network access control through the Meraki Dashboard. For Meraki customers, one of the main benefits is that it removes the requirement to deploy and maintain an external RADIUS platform. Authentication, access rules and session information can be managed within the same cloud-managed environment as the wired and wireless network. Access Manager can integrate with Microsoft Entra ID and use user identity and group membership when applying access policies. It supports certificate-based authentication using EAP-TLS, as well as credential-based authentication using EAP-TTLS/PAP. For devices that do not support 802.1X, such as printers, cameras and some IoT or OT endpoints, organisations can use MAC Authentication Bypass or Identity Pre-Shared Keys. From there, access rules can allow, deny or restrict access. Depending on the policy, users and devices can be dynamically assigned to a VLAN, Meraki Group Policy or Adaptive Policy security group.

This is where the value becomes more than just authentication. When Access Manager is used with Adaptive Policy, organisations can extend identity-based segmentation across the network. Rather than relying only on static VLANs or IP addresses, policies can be enforced based on the user role or device type.

Does Access Manager simplify NAC deployment?

Access Manager can reduce a lot of the complexity around NAC, but it does not remove the need for planning. Organisations still need to understand what devices are connecting to the network, define the right access policies and introduce enforcement carefully. NAC should also be seen as part of a wider security approach. It complements endpoint protection, vulnerability management and threat detection, rather than replacing them.

The practical starting point is usually visibility. Before enforcing restrictive policies, organisations can use NAC to build a clearer picture of users, endpoints and unmanaged devices across the network. From there, they can start small, perhaps with a single wireless network, a selected user group or a small number of switch ports in monitor mode. Once device behaviour is understood and policies are tested, enforcement can expand gradually across more users, locations and device types.

A more practical path to NAC

NAC itself is not new. What is changing is how it can be delivered. By bringing access control into the Meraki cloud-managed environment, Cisco Access Manager can lower many of the technical and operational barriers that have traditionally made NAC deployments feel difficult. For organisations that want better visibility, stronger access control and a more manageable path to identity-based segmentation, it offers a practical way to start small, learn quickly and scale with confidence.

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Published in Tech Insights, August 2026

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