By selecting and integrating the Sun JavaTM System Identity Management Suite into its solution, GE Security will deliver a converged security system that employs only one server and one operating system, and that can be managed by a single administrator. The result will be reduced hardware and software costs, dramatically fewer manual processes and duplicate procedures, the highest degree of physical and logical security, and significantly lower operating costs.
Today, employees often use a single smart card to access their corporate computer system and enter corporate buildings. But this single smart card requires two disparate systems for the network and physical security functions, which typically means two different servers, two different operating systems and two different systems administrators.
By combining Sun Java System Identity Management Suite and GE Security's Picture Perfect version 4 Security Management System, companies and government agencies and their contractors can accommodate multiple logical and physical access points, allowing them to utilize only one server, operating system and set of procedures, bringing true convergence and required regulatory compliance to the IT and physical access applications.
"As networks begin to let partners, customers and suppliers access them, they become vulnerable to illegitimate access and identity theft. The GE Security solution integrating Sun's Identity Management suite protects companies and government agencies against fraud and unauthorized access," said Dan Smytka, president of Engineered Systems, GE Security. "We know the power that Sun's Identity Management suite delivers because we have deployed it to more than 450,000 users across 11 GE business units. And we look forward to delivering the power of this partnership to customers around the globe to help protect them."
"We're pleased that GE Security will be including our industry-leading Sun Java System Identity Management Suite as part of their single-server converged access solution," said Sara Gates, vice president, Identity Management, Sun Microsystems. "GE is one of the largest users of Sun Identity Management, so they know firsthand the value that the combination will give customers by allowing them to take back control of all of their assets, whether they are physical buildings or computer networks, while increasing their operational efficiency and helping them meet regulatory requirements."
Forrester Research recently named Sun as "an identity management powerhouse," citing the company's Sun Java System Identity Manager software that offers businesses a "feature- rich solution" that also can be deployed quickly and cost-effectively. The report concluded that, "By a large margin, Sun Java System Identity Manager came in as the most-function-rich solution in Forrester's evaluation. The product led all of its competitors in several categories: connector functionality, policy management, auditing, and architecture." Forrester's analysis of Sun appeared in The Forrester Wave: User Account Provisioning, January 2006.
GE's Picture Perfect enterprise access control and security management system, which has been the number one choice among Fortune 100 companies for years, runs on SolarisTM, UNIX, Red Hat Linux and IBM AIX. These operating systems are less susceptible to computer viruses and more stable than Windows in shared-server or multi-user environments. Its ODBC compliance, incorporation of JDBC (Java database connectivity) technology into its Web client, and feature-rich XML API give customers the flexibility to adapt it easily within their network architectures.