Novell Raises the Stakes in Identity Management with Next Version of DirXML

Novell today announced Novell® Nsure™ Identity Manager 2, the next version of Novell DirXML® and a key component of Novell's Nsure secure identity management solution. This newly renamed product, currently in managed beta testing, makes it easier than ever for customers to deploy an identity management solution that reduces costs and increases security with enhanced provisioning, metadirectory and password management capabilities.

"This release marks a significant improvement in what is already the most powerful identity management product on the market," said Chris Stone, Novell vice chairman - Office of the CEO. "With point-and-click configuration, self-service password management and role-based access, it is even easier for customers to configure a solution mapped to their unique business processes that will reduce their management costs and increase security."

With Novell Nsure Identity Manager, customers can automate the process of providing user access rights and drastically reduce management costs by streamlining highly redundant tasks such as creating and modifying user identities. Employees, customers and partners will have faster access to the tools and resources they need in their relationship with the organization. And when a relationship ends, access rights can immediately be terminated across all connected corporate systems to eliminate a significant security risk.

Novell entered the Leader quadrant of Gartner's Metadirectory Magic Quadrant in August 2002 and has since maintained that position. Novell provides the most flexible identity management solution on the market that adapts to each customer's unique needs and business rules. Processes can be automated for quick and efficient deployment, but the solution can also be customized to meet the specific requirements of each organization. Customers can leverage existing business processes and infrastructure, eliminating much of the pain associated with proprietary solutions.

Earl Perkins, META Group vice president of security and risk strategies, said, "For many enterprises, there's a growing awareness of the need to simplify and secure the manner in which a strategic asset like identity is created, stored and used. Identity management has arisen as a potential way of controlling the identity infrastructure that delivers authentication, authorization and identity repositories in a scalable, reliable fashion. This has become a major focus of some vendors as they develop strategies, products and services that address the provisioning, workflow, auditing and administration needs enterprises require in securing access to a diverse portfolio of applications and resources."

New Features in Novell Nsure Identity Manager
Using Novell Nsure Identity Manager, customers can reduce the cost of managing access to applications and data, cut down the number of calls to the help desk and increase the security of their enterprise resources. With enhanced password management, organizations can easily provide end users with self-service capabilities to change or reset forgotten passwords themselves. This significantly reduces the number of password-related calls made to a help desk, which META Group estimates as typically being 45 percent of total call volume. Passwords can also be synchronized across connected systems when users make a change.

Browser-based, point-and-click configuration replaces manual configuration of style sheets for common and in-depth tasks in Nsure Identity Manager 2. The unique flexibility of DirXML has been retained but with a new, more-intuitive interface. In addition, IT administrators can automatically manage users' access to resources based on their role or relationship with the organization. Memberships can be defined and auto-populated based on user attributes, and then the administrator can add or delete specific rights in the user profile. Access rights are updated to reflect current needs and privileges whenever a user's role changes.

Novell Nsure Identity Manager also includes Novell Audit Starter Pack, which allows businesses to track and monitor security-related activity in internal systems and applications and generate reports or notifications. If any activity is ever called into question, the trail can be reconstructed to generate a non-repudiation activity log, so the administrator knows with assurance who accessed which resources.

Novell Nsure Solutions
Novell Nsure Identity Manager is a key component of Novell's Nsure secure identity management solution, which enables enterprises to efficiently and securely deliver the right resources to the right people - anytime, anywhere.

Novell Nsure Identity Manager is currently in managed beta testing, and pricing and general availability will be announced at a later date.