Cisco also announced that ACI is now validated by independent auditors for deployment in PCI-compliant networks. Cisco touts a broad ecosystem of partners for ACI with Intel Security, Check Point Software, Infoblox, Radware, Symantec, and most recently Fortinet's FortiGate. Automation, integration and ease-of-use are in focus here, as Cisco cites Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) research that show 68 percent of IT security professionals reported that it is difficult to remove expired or out-of-date access control lists (ACLs) or firewall rules because it is so time-consuming and entails many manual processes. An extensive ESG survey report on ACLs is available here, which says 74 percent of midmarket and enterprise respondents claimed that, on average, took days or weeks to complete firewall or routing ACL changes.