Netegrity Touts Platform Upgrade

Part of Netegrity's Secure Relationship Management platform, NIS provides a central Web-based location for the aggregation and presentation of applications and data. It also incorporates the access control system of Netegrity's SiteMinder to create a portal system that allows protection of portal resources.

Carla Corkern, vice president and general manager of the Portal Services Business Unit at Netegrity, said the product directly addresses reluctance from client IT departments to allow access from a portal into back-end systems.

In mid-March, Netegrity introduced SiteMinder 5.0, an updated version of its user access-control software for e-business management. SiteMinder 5.0 provides new tools for managing software across a distributed enterprise.

Joe Duffy, security practice national leader of global risk management solutions at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said the new version of SiteMinder builds on Netegrity's Secure Relationship Management strategy. "They've got a strong vision, which we endorse and call identity management," he said.

Identity management is becoming more important as companies take their business to the Web and connect with employees, partners and suppliers over the Internet to help reduce administrative costs, he said.

Other new features in SiteMinder 5.0 include tighter integration with Microsoft applications, which provides single sign-on across a range of Microsoft products, and hardware-based key storage.

Gene Phifer, vice president and research director at Gartner Group, said one of the biggest challenges facing portals is connecting multiple types of information sources and databases, many with proprietary directory and security mechanisms. The key, Phifer said, is to integrate the multiple touchpoints within the portal, including directories, security, personalization profiles and portal components.