network-access-control
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Cloud4Wi Found a Business Hiding Inside the Guest WiFi Login
The unglamorous captive portal became a wedge into customer data, automated access and AI-assisted network operations. Cloud4Wi's playbook is less about replacing routers than making the ones already in the ceiling earn their keep.
The Company That Assumes Every File Is Trying to Kill You
Benny Czarny bootstrapped OPSWAT for 19 years on a simple, paranoid idea: assume every file is malicious. Today that assumption guards 98% of US nuclear plants.
Denny LeCompte
Denny LeCompte is the CEO of Portnox, an Austin-based cybersecurity company that delivers cloud-native network access control and zero trust access for enterprises. A former cognitive psychology professor with a Ph.D. from Rice University, he spent two decades in product strategy at IT and security vendors including SolarWinds and AlienVault before taking the helm at Portnox in 2022. Under his leadership the company grew roughly 8x, and he was named a 2025 Cyber Leader of the Year. He writes the widely read 'Access Granted' LinkedIn column, arguing that cybersecurity is as much a human problem as a technical one.
Portnox
Portnox is a cloud-native access control company that unifies Network Access Control (NAC), RADIUS, TACACS+, and passwordless conditional access for applications into a single zero-trust platform. Founded in 2007 by a team from the Israeli Air Force and now headquartered in Austin, Texas, Portnox removes the appliances, VMs, and specialized staff that traditional NAC requires, letting organizations authenticate users and devices, assess endpoint risk, and enforce compliance across wired, wireless, and remote networks from the cloud. It serves more than 1,000 organizations across healthcare, finance, manufacturing, and technology.
Extreme Networks
Extreme Networks is a Nasdaq-listed enterprise networking company that designs wired and wireless infrastructure - switches, Wi-Fi access points and SD-WAN - and pairs it with cloud-managed, AI-driven software. Built around ExtremeCloud IQ and the newer Extreme Platform ONE, the company delivers cloud and increasingly AI-native networking to more than 50,000 customers worldwide, from NFL stadiums and hospitals to schools, factories and retailers. Headquartered in Morrisville, North Carolina, it competes with Cisco, HPE Aruba, Juniper and Arista by pitching a single, simpler platform that unifies networking, security and analytics.
Forescout Technologies Inc.
Forescout Technologies is a San Jose-based cybersecurity company that gives organizations agentless visibility and control over every connected device on their networks - from laptops and phones to industrial controllers, medical equipment and IoT sensors that cannot run traditional security agents. Its platform, now branded Forescout Vistaro, spans IT, OT, IoT and IoMT environments and combines asset discovery, network access control, segmentation, threat detection and exposure management, backed by the Vedere Labs threat-research team. Serving roughly 3,200 customers including one in five Fortune 500 companies and numerous government agencies, Forescout competes in the fast-growing market for securing the sprawling, mixed device estates of modern enterprises and critical infrastructure.