Novell to expand provisioning solutions to match customer needs

Novell, Inc., the leading provider of Net business solutions, today unveiled the company's plans to deliver packaged identity provisioning solutions that can be quickly deployed out of the box to address specific customer needs. The first of these packaged solutions, code-named Mercury, will be available later this year and will address identity provisioning for employees. Subsequent offerings targeted at students and customers will follow. Companies will have the option of engaging Novell or its systems integrator partners for large, complex provisioning deployments or implementing a packaged provisioning solution to address particular business needs. Deploying a Novell® provisioning solution helps organizations create an environment where internal and external networks, applications and platforms work together as one Net, to provide all users — employees, customers, partners and suppliers — immediate access to the personalized resources they need to be productive.

For most companies, provisioning is a time-consuming manual process, where users are granted access to a variety of systems individually: network access, e-mail accounts, HR profiles and others are all set up independently. The process can take weeks, lowering employee productivity and weakening relationships with customers and partners. Similarly, the process of revoking access to confidential data and systems is equally convoluted and time consuming, posing a significant security risk as well as a financial burden when, for example, cell phones, pagers or other devices are left active. Novell provisioning solutions automate these processes, saving time and money and enhancing security.

Provisioning Solutions for Organizations of All Types and Sizes
Many provisioning solutions require a combination of technology and tailored professional services to meet customer needs. Novell offers this kind of solution directly and through a number of the company's Consultant and Systems Integrator (CSI) alliance program members, such as Deloitte& Touche.

However, many companies need a more refined identity provisioning solution that addresses specific, common needs and can be quickly deployed out of the box. These packaged identity provisioning solutions represent a significant opportunity for Novell channel partners that do not have the same consulting resources as large systems integrators. Over the next 18 months, Novell will deliver a number of identity provisioning solutions that address the needs of specific groups, including:

• Employees — The first offering, code-named Mercury, is an employee identity provisioning solution that will link independent systems such as e-mail, HR applications and network operating systems to give new employees immediate access to key applications and resources they need. When an employee leaves the company the procedure is reversed. Changing a user's employment status in the HR application or removing them from another database will simultaneously remove that employee's access rights to applications throughout the enterprise, protecting corporate security.
• Students — Students increasingly need access to campus e-mail services, online registration information and other applications to be effective in their studies. A student identity provisioning solution can provide access to those systems from the first day of classes and remove that access on the last day of finals. This automated process helps students be successful and helps schools protect their assets.
• Customers — One of the fastest ways to damage customer loyalty is to have customers interact with business applications that aren't talking to one another. Perhaps the identity information a customer just entered at a company's Web portal doesn't match the records in the company's support database, or isn't there at all. This kind of breakdown frustrates customers and damages a company's credibility. A customer identity provisioning solution can eliminate this obstacle to eBusiness by creating a consistent identity for each customer across key business applications.

"Novell has taken aim at the provisioning market, and we intend to lead," said Ed Anderson, director of provisioning solutions for Novell. "Novell has already gained a tremendous foothold in this market, as sales of its DirXML™-based provisioning solutions have multiplied rapidly over the past several quarters. Now, Novell intends to take that success in large enterprises to all types of companies with the delivery of out-of-the-box identity provisioning solutions."

Availability and Pricing
Provisioning solutions are available today from Novell and many of Novell's large systems integrator partners. The first packaged identity provisioning solutions from Novell will ship later this year. Pricing will be announced at that time.