Palo Alto Networks (http://www.paloaltonetworks.com/index.php), a network security company, has announced a new release of GlobalProtect that supports Mac OS X and iOS devices.

GlobalProtect expands the boundaries of the physical network, establishing a logical perimeter that encompasses remote laptop and mobile device users irrespective of their location. When a remote user logs into the device, GlobalProtect automatically determines the closest gateway available to the roaming device and establishes a secure connection using strong authentication. Laptop and mobile devices will stay connected to the corporate network at all times, and protected as if they never left the corporate campus, according to the folks at Palo Alto Networks.

“As a highly-regulated healthcare organization, the fact that our physicians are adopting Apple iPads at a very fast rate poses both security and compliance challenges,” says Mike Wade, network system engineer at Summa Healthcare. “We’re looking to Palo Alto Networks to possibly help us with this challenge as they can seamlessly extend our existing user-specific policies to the recent influx of Apple products on our networks.”