Welcome Guest. | Log In| Register | Membership Benefits
  • Email this page E-mail this page
  • |  Print Print this page
  • |   Bookmark and Share
  • |  icon
  • | 

Sun Unveils ID-Management Package


The company is offering hardware, software, and services for managing user IDs in corporate intranets and extranets.

By Antone Gonsalves
InformationWeek
March 12, 2002 12:00 AM

Sun Microsystems unveiled Tuesday the Sun One Platform for Network Identity, packages of hardware, software, and services aimed at a major network problem--managing the authentications of thousands of employees, customers, and business partners. Companies' often-legitimate need to identify visitors to sell services or products means customers must remember a multitude of IDs and passwords, leading to frustration and lost sales. "Online identity is a nightmare, and anyone who is a major user of the Internet is aware of that," Hurwitz Group analyst Pete Lindstrom says. "There's no continuity or consistency."

The new offering comes in an enterprise edition for behind-the-firewall intranets and an Internet edition for managing extranet users. Both packages include the iPlanet Directory Server Access Management Edition, the iPlanet Web Server, the Solaris operating system, Sun Fire 280R Servers, the Sun StorEdge D2 Array, and 10 days of consulting services. The major differences are in price and the number of users each package can handle. The enterprise edition is priced at $149,995 and can handle up to 10,000 online identities; the Internet edition is $999,995 for up to 250,000 identities.

More Software Insights

White Papers

Webcasts

Reports

Videos


The startup offers software for CIOs and IT leaders to help them run IT SmartSheet.com provides SaaS-based project management apps A 30-second description by CEO David Fox of Agistix, a vendor founded in 2003 that focuses on logistics and supply chain management software as a service. Agistix, according to Fox, helps customers
SmartSheet.com provides SaaS-based project management apps
Sun's new packages provide a single sign-on for a company's extranet but don't solve the Internetwide problem. However, during a teleconference announcing the products, Sun chief strategist Jonathan Schwartz said the platforms would support interoperability specifications due to be released midyear by the Liberty Alliance. The group, which includes Sun, AOL Time Warner, Visa International, and dozens of other companies, is developing standards for linking Web sites, so passwords and user IDs can follow visitors as they click across the Internet. The alliance is competing with a similar service from Microsoft called Passport. Lindstrom said Sun was "walking the talk" in announcing support for alliance specifications, but Amy Wohl, president of consulting firm Wohl Associates, says the announcement was premature: "How will I know that what I'm doing here will follow what's in the Liberty specifications?

Analysts did not find the million-dollar price tag unusually high for the package's Internet edition, given the number of users supported. The costs could be justified for companies that integrate the identity server, for example, to customer-relationship management software to target more products and services to customers. "All of a sudden you end up with new business opportunities," Lindstrom says. However, analysts agreed that the cost of services could run three or four times the initial cost of the hardware and software, depending on the complexity of integration to back-office and legacy applications.


Subscribe to RSS


Advertisement

CAREER CENTER
Ready to take that job and shove it?



TechCareers

SEARCH
Function:

Keyword(s):

State:
SPONSOR
RECENT JOB POSTINGS
CAREER NEWS
10 Search Engines You Don't Know About
Go beyond Google and get vertical. These specialized search sites will help you find the business information you need -- fast.

Yahoo Profits Fall 23%, Cuts 1,000 Jobs
Ari Balogh was named to the post of chief technology officer as the companys for a "realignment" of employees.

More articles from our career center





Subscription Info
Apply for a free 52-week subscription to InformationWeek (a $199 value)

Last Name:

First Name:

Title:

Company Name:

City:

Business Address:

Zip:

State:

Email Address:

NOTE: Offer valid for U.S., U.S. possessions, & Canada only

            

Join economist Chris Cornell and 3 CIOs in an Exclusive Online Exchange for Senior IT Executives: Using IT to Drive Value in a Turbulent Economy. November 5th only.