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On January 31, 2017, Illumio announced plans to extend its adaptive segmentation platform to Cisco switch access control lists (ACLs), Arista Dynamic Filters, AWS Security Groups, and Azure Network Security Groups (NSGs). The company said the integrations were expected to reach the market during 2017 and that it would demonstrate the switch integrations at RSA in February. Those were announced plans—not evidence that every integration shipped, or that any of them support particular hardware today.
What Illumio announced in 2017
Illumio described an effort to coordinate policy across workloads, data-center network infrastructure, and public-cloud controls. The named enforcement targets were Cisco ACLs, Arista Dynamic Filters, AWS Security Groups, and Azure NSGs. In the announcement, Illumio said customers could use these controls as part of a more coordinated segmentation approach rather than managing separate, disconnected policy models. Read Illumio’s January 31, 2017 announcement.
Illumio’s stated operational rationale was to reduce policy gaps and manual configuration across environments. It also said this approach could avoid introducing firewall choke points or deploying software-defined networking solely to achieve segmentation. These are the company’s claims in the release; it did not provide comparative performance tests or independently verified effectiveness figures for the announced integrations.
Where the four controls enforce policy
| Control named by Illumio | Where it applies | What the announcement establishes |
|---|---|---|
| Cisco access control lists (ACLs) | Network switches | Illumio said it planned an integration; the release does not specify switch models, software versions, or current compatibility. |
| Arista Dynamic Filters | Network switches | Illumio said it planned an integration; the release does not specify switch models, software versions, or current compatibility. |
| AWS Security Groups | AWS cloud resources | Named as an intended enforcement surface in 2017; current Illumio cloud documentation also describes enforcement through Security Groups. |
| Azure Network Security Groups (NSGs) | Azure cloud resources | Named as an intended enforcement surface in 2017; current Illumio cloud documentation also describes enforcement through NSGs. |
These controls are not interchangeable. Cisco ACLs and Arista Dynamic Filters are switch-level controls; AWS Security Groups and Azure NSGs are cloud-native controls. What a policy can govern therefore depends on the enforcement point and the resource, traffic, and configuration involved.
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What was a roadmap—and what is documented now
The 2017 delivery forecast
The 2017 release forecast market availability during that year and said the switch integrations would be demonstrated at RSA in February. It does not establish that delivery occurred on that schedule, identify supported switch models, or show that those integrations remain available. Treat the forecast as historical product intent, not a present-day compatibility statement.
Current cloud product documentation
Illumio’s current cloud policy reference describes AWS enforcement through Security Groups and Azure enforcement through Network Security Groups. It lists supported resource classes across areas including compute, containers, databases, load balancing, and selected network resources. The same documentation says Illumio Segmentation for the Cloud does not support Classic Azure Firewall. Check the current reference for the exact resource and configuration you intend to use: Policy enforcement and resource types.
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- SIMPLE: Plug-and-play without a need for IT know-how or support.
- FLEXIBLE: Extensive portfolio provides ultimate flexibility from 5 to 24 ports and PoE combinations
- PERFORMANCE: Gigabit Ethernet and integrated quality-of-service (QoS) intelligence optimize delay-sensitive services and improve overall network performance.
- INNOVATIVE DESIGN: Elegant and compact design, ideal for installation outside of wiring closet such as retail stores, open plan offices, and classrooms
Illumio’s current product overview presents its segmentation platform as spanning cloud workloads, endpoints, data centers, and containers, with workload identity-based policy and application-communication visibility as central concepts. Those are descriptions from the vendor, not independent evaluations of the product: Illumio Segmentation product overview.
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The sources establish current cloud enforcement context, but they do not establish current Cisco or Arista model-and-version support. Before planning around a switch integration, confirm compatibility and configuration requirements with current product documentation or Illumio.
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- Cisco Catalyst 2960X-48LPS-L Ethernet Switch
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What Illumio and analysts said at the time
Illumio CTO and co-founder PJ Kirner said customers wanted to coordinate policy across data-center and cloud environments. The release also quoted ESG’s Jon Oltsik and 451 Research’s Eric Hanselman discussing segmentation across environments and the potential to simplify policy management. These were statements published in 2017; they should not be read as current endorsements or as evidence of measured outcomes.
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