BMC Software has completed the second phase of its identity management
software line, rolling out a suite that boasts better integration
and interoperability.
Like many ID management platforms, BMC Identity Management Suite 5.0
provides customers with directory management and visualization, access
management, user administration and provisioning, password management and
audit and compliance management.
But BMC has new tricks afoot in its latest ID management suite version,
including a new and improved Web-based GUI
Thanks to the new Identity Discovery tool, BMC’s Atrium Configuration
Management Database (CMDB) is now populated with identity data, said Somesh Singh, vice president and general manager of the identity-management business
unit at BMC.
Singh said in an interview that matching identity data with the Atrium CMDB
allows customers to directly link hardware and software assets to specific
users in an organization for better visibility into the business, its
processes and resources.
The combination of ID Discovery and the CMDB can help improve the way Web
services for business are exchanged, tying front-end users’ accounts to
back-end information. Identity Discovery customers can also see which end
users are affected by any possible configuration changes, he said.
With compliance regulations all the rage in the corporate world today,
Identity Compliance Manager lets customers meet government regulations.
The application uses a graphical dashboard to report on policy compliance,
helping companies realize and meet the proper policies that need to be
implemented. This includes ensuring compliance with such major rules as
Sarbanes-Oxley, Graham Leach Bliley and the Health Information Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Customers may track, manage and archive all policy exceptions through this
dashboard.
Last but not least, Singh said the Federated Identity Manager lets business
customers give their partners, suppliers or customers access to their
extranet site without giving anything valuable away.
The software also ensures safe communication across businesses, boosting
information sharing while mitigating data-exposure risks posed by spies or
intruders. Federated Identity Manager supports key ID Web standards, such as
SAML 1.0, SAML 2.0, Liberty ID-FF 1.0, WS-Federation and Shibboleth.
Analysts have been watching the ID management space with a keen eye, but
even more so since 2004 when a raft of acquisitions saw major consolidation
in this niche of the broad distributed computing market.
BMC was responsible for two of those deals, purchasing both Calendra
and OpenNetwork within months of each other.
Software from both products is greatly influencing BMC’s move in the space.
This, in turn, is helping the management software maker stay on target in the
market, along with rivals like IBM, BEA Systems, Oracle and Computer
Associates.
BMC’s ID management suite is essentially complete, Singh said, with better
integration and usability features to follow in 2006.
