Compare Trout & Forescout
Forescout controls who gets on the network. Access Gate controls who talks to what, when, and how. Zero-trust enforcement at the session level with OT protocol awareness.
Network admission is not enough for OT
Network access control decides at the door: a device is either allowed on or kept off. But OT environments need continuous enforcement after admission. A contractor laptop that passed NAC checks should not have unrestricted access to safety-critical PLCs. That's where per-session access control comes in.
Per-session zero trust at the network level
Access Gate enforces access policies on every session, not just at admission. It inspects OT protocols, applies per-user and per-device policies, and segments traffic using overlay networking. All enforcement happens on-premise without agents or cloud connectivity.
Device profiling and network admission control
Forescout excels at discovering, classifying, and profiling devices across IT and OT networks. Its NAC capabilities control which devices are admitted to the network and can assign VLAN policies at the switch level. It handles large-scale device visibility and admission enforcement well.
| Feature | Access Gate | Forescout |
|---|---|---|
| Device profiling | Network-level discovery | Deep device fingerprinting |
| Network admission control | Policy-based access | Core NAC capability |
| Per-session access control | Admission-time only | |
| OT protocol awareness | Limited OT depth | |
| Network segmentation | Via VLAN assignment | |
| MFA for legacy OT devices | ||
| Agent-free deployment | ||
| Asset inventory | ||
| Secure remote access | Not included | |
| On-premise only deployment | Cloud management option |
Session-level enforcement
Forescout decides at the point of admission -- a device is either on the network or not. Access Gate enforces policies per session, controlling who talks to what, when, and over which protocols. In OT, threats often come from devices already on the network. Continuous enforcement catches that.
OT protocol depth
Access Gate understands OT-specific protocols like Modbus, S7, and EtherNet/IP at the session level. Forescout can identify OT devices but has limited ability to inspect or enforce policies based on OT protocol content.
No cloud required
Access Gate runs entirely on-premise with no cloud dependency. Forescout offers cloud-managed options, which may not meet the requirements of air-gapped or sovereignty-sensitive OT environments.
Access Gate vs Forescout FAQ
Continuous enforcement beyond admission
Choose Access Gate when you need per-session zero-trust enforcement in OT environments. If your priority is controlling what happens after devices are on the network -- not just whether they get on -- Access Gate provides deeper enforcement with OT protocol awareness.
Forescout is a strong choice for large-scale IT/OT device profiling and network admission control. If your primary goal is identifying and classifying every device on your network and enforcing admission policies across a mixed IT/OT estate, Forescout has mature capabilities in this area.
Forescout segments primarily through VLAN assignment and 802.1X enforcement at the switch level. Access Gate uses overlay networking to create segmentation without touching the underlying network infrastructure -- no recabling, no VLAN redesign, and no switch upgrades required.
Access Gate is not a traditional NAC and does not replace Forescout for IT device profiling and admission control. However, for OT environments where per-session enforcement and protocol-aware access control matter more than admission-time decisions, Access Gate can serve as the primary security enforcement point.