Novell To Ship Updated Identity Manager Early Next Year

The renamed Nsure Identity Manager 2, formerly DirXML, offers enhanced provisioning, meta-directory and password management capabilities, the Provo, Utah company said.

The NSure solution, which joins other Nsure solutions including Nsure Audit and Nsure Resources, is currently in beta testing and will ship during the first quarter of 2004, a spokesman said.

The software features enhanced password management that will give end users in an organization self-service capabilities to change or reset their passwords.

Additionally, roles-based access means administrators can automatically assign users access to corporate resource based on their role in an organization. They can then add or delete access rights in the user profile when that user's role in the company changes.

Novell also enhanced the user interface of the point-and-click configuration feature to simplify administraive tasks.

For enhanced security, the software includes the Nsure Audit Starter Pack that allows businesses to track and monitor security activities within systems and applications. The report generation feature, for instance, will enable administrators to know which employee accessed which application or network resources and when.

Interest in identity management has taken off in recent months due to Microsoft's re-entry into the market as well as increasing corporate demand for managing enterprise applications, web services and mixed systems.

Last August, Microsoft launched its re-engineered Microsoft Identity Integration Server, which is based on the Microsoft Metadirectory Services (MMS).

Novell also competes in the space with Sun Microsystems and IBM and with specialized ISVs such as Business Layers and Waveset, which already ship robust identity and access management platforms.

Systems integrators and solution providers said Novell's emphasis on key areas -directory services and access and authentication - is paying off. The NSure Identity Manager 2 embeds eDirectory as part of the solution.

While Boulder Corp. could not comment on the new Identity Manager 2 offering, an executive at the systems integrator said two of its clients - the City of Boulder and Quantum - recently picked Novell's directory solution over Microsoft's.

Novell's eDirectory was a key reason the City of Boulder recently halted its plan to migrate its entire NetWare infrastructure to Microsoft Windows servers, said Lesley Taufer, president of the Boulder Corp., a Microsoft, Novell and Citrix integrator, noting the city has opted to stick with Novell and is moving to NetWare 6.5.

Quantum, a customer very reliant on Microsoft, chose eDirectory over Microsoft Active Directory because of the maturity of Novell's offering, Taufer said.

"They were going to Active Directory but there were so many things they couldn't manage," said Taufer. "They'll keep some of the operating system stuff but they're going with [Novell] eDirectory to manage all of their products and services.

Another Novell solution provider said DirXML offers a core level of user management and access rights features but added that Novell's support for Microsoft Passport and Liberty Alliance will go a long way in the web services era.

"Novell's eDirectory is a mature offering, [but] it does lack support from developers of applications and network services," said Carlos Paz-Soldan, a vice president at Tenet Computer Group, Toronto. "By adding support for Microsoft's Passport and the Liberty Alliance Project, Novell would ensure native interoperability with a wide range of applications and services. This would provide more transparent and convenient integration with eDirectory than Novell's current DirXML synchronization offering."