With the rise in popularity of IEEE 802.1X authentication for IEEE 802.11 wireless networks, network administrators want to use this standard for their wired network connections as well. Just as a wireless client must submit a set of credentials to be validated prior to allowing wireless frames to be forwarded to the intranet, an IEEE 802.1X wired client must perform an authentication before being able to use its switch port. IEEE 802.1X authentication provides an additional security barrier for your intranet—you can prevent guest, rogue, or unmanaged computers that cannot perform a successful authentication from connecting to your intranet. If you’d like to use IEEE 802.1X-authentication for your wired network, The Cable Guy tells you how Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 make it a snap.