Sun Redefines Infinite Access; Launches ID Management Suite

The hardware and Java software provider also unveiled Sun Identity Manager, a new identity management offering specifically crafted for Microsoft environments.

The new infinite access model, unveiled at this week's RSA Conference in San Francisco, will incorporate multifactor authentication, identity management and risk management containment into all Sun software products and platforms. Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's executive vice president of software, said that the company's Java Desktop System (JDS), a Linux-based desktop operating system, will be the first product to integrate the new approach.

"Security is a lifestyle, not an afterthought," Schwartz said. "It should be integrated, invisible and infinite."

According to John Fowler, vice president and CTO of Sun Software, the new infinite access model will help to create a managed risk environment that allows access to be appropriate and acceptable to the service providers in enterprises and consumer and governmental organizations. It will also include functionality that helps contain damage by linking access to specific characteristics of a user's identity.

id
unit-1659132512259
type
Sponsored post

As such, Fowler noted that Sun's Java Card multifactor authentication technology will be a key tenet of the new approach, adding that the company's Java System Identity Server will help promote it, too.

Another major factor to enabling this new, integrated approach in the Microsoft environment will be Identity Manager.

Based on technology acquired from Waveset Technologies, Identity Manager provides quick-to-deploy provisioning, as well as password and directory management capabilities for Microsoft products such as Active Directory, Identity Integration Server, SQL Server and Exchange. Sun announced it was acquiring Waveset last November.

Formerly known as Waveset Lighthouse, the new product enables organizations to centralize administration and synchronization of user identities across all enterprise application environments. Mark McClain, Sun's vice president of identity management marketing, said the product also helps enterprises reduce costs by bridging the identity gap.

"Identity management is an essential component of a secure environment, and it is critical to provide centralized visibility across an entire enterprise," McClain said. "Sun realizes that enterprise customers often maintain complex, heterogeneous environments and is delivering an identity management offering that can be integrated into any infrastructure."

Identity Manager was expected to be available for distribution immediately. Sun also plans to include Identity Manager and other technology acquired from Waveset in Release 3 of the Java Enterprise System (JES), due out sometime this summer, said Andrew Taylor, a group marketing manager at Sun. JES is Sun's suite of Java software, including application server, directory, portal and identity management server, offered for a yearly subscription of $100 per user.

Other technologies to be included in that release of JES are grid and provisioning capabilities for JES through tighter integration with Sun's N1 software for JES, Taylor said.

JDS and JES will not be the only software benefiting from Sun's security offerings. Fowler added that the next generation of Sun's Solaris operating system, version 10, would incorporate the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company's infinite access approach to security as well. Solaris 10 is slated to ship by the end of the year.

ELIZABETH MONTALBANO contributed to this story.