Sun Unveils Network Identity Platform

Sun Microsystems

Called the Sun ONE Platform for Network Identity, the new solution is designed to help enterprises lay a secure foundation for Web services and support the upcoming Liberty Alliance authentication specification, said Jonathan Schwartz, Sun chief strategy officer.

The Liberty Alliance is a team of companies working to develop an open standard for user authentication in Web services. The group, spearheaded by Sun and others, expects to release an initial specification by midyear.

Schwartz described Sun's identity platform as a breakthrough solution that offers enterprises a simple, scalable way for building a secure network-identity infrastructure for employees, customers and business partners. "Network identity is the foundation for the next generation of personalized Web services," he said.

The Sun ONE (Open Net Environment) identity system comes in two versions. An Enterprise Edition, designed for deployment inside a corporate firewall, supports up to 10,000 online identities. The Internet Edition supports up to 250,000 online identities outside a firewall.

Both editions include pre-installed iPlanet Directory Server Access Management Edition 5 and Solaris 8 software running on Sun Fire 280R Ultra SPARC III servers and Sun StorEdge D2 storage arrays. The systems also include 10 days of professional services consulting to help customers integrate them with legacy systems, Sun executives said.

Mark Bauhaus, vice president of Sun's professional services, said the platform allows systems integrators to offer value-added services around network identity. Sun plans to work with integrators worldwide to help enterprises craft identity solutions, Schwartz said.

The Sun ONE Platform for Network Identity is available now. The Enterprise Edition costs $149,995, and the Internet Edition costs $999,995.