Identity Management for Service Provisioning Markup Language (SPML)

Netegrity and Business Layers to Demonstrate Support for Service Provisioning Markup Language (SPML)

Vendors Are First to Exhibit XML Based Solution for Identity Management

Waltham, MA. and Rochelle Park, NJ, USA. February 11, 2003.

Netegrity, Inc., a leading provider of identity and access management solutions, and Business Layers, the eProvisioning Company, today announced the development of the first identity management solution to support the Service Provisioning Markup Language (SPML) standard. SPML provides companies with a standard way to automate, centralize, and manage the process of provisioning user access to corporate systems and data in order to maximize existing IT resources, reduce administrative costs, and enhance security. The OASIS Provisioning Services Technical Committee is meeting today to finalize the SPML specification.

"Creating a standard way in which to communicate user provisioning information between enterprises will greatly improve corporate efficiency, contribute to cost reduction and increase productivity," said Roberta Witty, Research Director of Gartner, Inc. "The adoption of open standards such as SPML provides market assurance that customers do not need to be dependent on their user provisioning solution vendor for proprietary customization which only adds to the cost of the user provisioning implementation."

The challenge of resource provisioning only becomes more complex as companies reach beyond organizational boundaries to conduct business. The move towards service-oriented architectures adds yet another layer of complexity as not only users, but also pieces of applications require access to corporate systems.

For example, a large auto manufacturer may have multiple warehouses across the country, some of which are owned by the auto manufacturer and others owned by partners. In order to provide the appropriate parts to the manufacturing plant at the appropriate time, employees at the warehouse must have access to various applications. In order to provision these users to the appropriate applications in a cost effective and timely manner, the company could deploy a provisioning Web service that supports SPML. Using standards based solutions from Netegrity and Business Layers, the auto manufacturer could seamlessly authenticate and authorize the issuer of the provisioning request and perform the appropriate provisioning tasks.

"Netegrity is committed to supporting open standards, such as SPML, to enable interoperability with other software vendors," said Deepak Taneja, CTO at Netegrity. "By supporting SPML, organizations will be able to more easily and securely automate the provisioning of their existing IT systems and interoperate with disparate provisioning installations across multiple departments and organizations."

"We are fully committed to open standards for internal provisioning projects, as well as for external identity management projects by providing an open provisioning platform for our customers," said Adrian Viego, CTO of Business Layers. "Business Layers has long been a proponent of using XML and was the first company to propose an XML specification for provisioning nearly two years ago. We are pleased that Netegrity and other vendors have joined in these efforts."

Netegrity and Business Layers plan to demonstrate the end-to-end solution at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, April 13-17, 2003.

The Services Provisioning Markup Language (SPML) is being defined by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) Provisioning Services Technical Committee (PSTC). For more information about SPML, see http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/provision.

About Netegrity, Inc.

Netegrity is a leading provider of identity and access management solutions for legacy, Web, and service-oriented architectures. Netegrity provides a comprehensive and integrated identity management solution, with a single administrative model for authentication management, access control, and user administration across heterogeneous environments, both within the enterprise and beyond. Netegrity's flexible, standards-based solutions are designed to enable secure business applications, improve user satisfaction, reduce administrative costs, enforce policy compliance, and mitigate risk. Supported by a vast network of over 200 partners, Netegrity solutions are licensed to more than 250 million users at nearly 700 organizations worldwide, including more than half of the Fortune 100. Customers include industry leaders such as Aetna, American Express, Bank One, E*TRADE, General Electric, the Internal Revenue Service, and Wells Fargo. For more information, visit www.netegrity.com.

About Business Layers

Business Layers is a leading provider of provisioning solutions, the cornerstone of security and identity management implementations. Business Layers' flagship software product, eProvision, provides an efficient, secure, systematic and scalable system for creating and managing resources for any user, including employees, customers, contractors and business partners.

Business Layers was the first company to define and address the Provisioning market, and the first to define a provisioning standard. The Business Layers eProvision Alliance, the broadest alliance program in the provisioning industry, provides the framework to deliver the most comprehensive eProvisioning technology solutions to Business Layers' customers. Winner of the 2002 Network Computing's Editor's Choice Award, the Tornado Insider 100 Award and featured in Computerworld's 'Emerging Companies to Watch' list, Business Layer's eProvision Software has been ranked by top analyst firms such as the Radicati Group as the #1 provisioning technology on the market today.

Business Layers is a privately held company funded by leading international investors including Canaan Partners, Ascent Venture Partners, Novell Inc., Gemini Israel Funds, Formula Ventures, Israel Seed Partners, and Garage Technology Ventures. For more information, please contact Business Layers at 877-552-9377, or visit www.businesslayers.com.

Contact

Business Layers
Sharon Tolpin
Director of Corporate Communications
Tel: 201-291-8999, ext 218
Email: sharon.tolpin@businesslayers.com

Netegrity
Jennifer Menard
Corporate Communications Manager
Tel: 781-663-7384
Email: jmenard@netegrity.com

Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See general references in "XML-Based Provisioning Services."

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SPML provides companies with a standard way to automate, centralize, and manage the process of provisioning user access to corporate systems and data in order to maximize existing IT resources, reduce administrative costs, and enhance security. The OASIS Provisioning Services Technical Committee is meeting today to finalize the SPML specification. "Creating a standard way in which to communicate user provisioning information between enterprises will greatly improve corporate efficiency, contribute to cost reduction and increase productivity," said Roberta Witty, Research Director of Gartner, Inc. "The adoption of open standards such as SPML provides market assurance that customers do not need to be dependent on their user provisioning solution vendor for proprietary customization which only adds to the cost of the user provisioning implementation." The challenge of resource provisioning only becomes more complex as companies reach beyond organizational boundaries to conduct business. The move towards service-oriented architectures adds yet another layer of complexity as not only users, but also pieces of applications require access to corporate systems. For example, a large auto manufacturer may have multiple warehouses across the country, some of which are owned by the auto manufacturer and others owned by partners. In order to provide the appropriate parts to the manufacturing plant at the appropriate time, employees at the warehouse must have access to various applications. In order to provision these users to the appropriate applications in a cost effective and timely manner, the company could deploy a provisioning Web service that supports SPML. Using standards based solutions from Netegrity and Business Layers, the auto manufacturer could seamlessly authenticate and authorize the issuer of the provisioning request and perform the appropriate provisioning tasks. "Netegrity is committed to supporting open standards, such as SPML, to enable interoperability with other software vendors," said Deepak Taneja, CTO at Netegrity. "By supporting SPML, organizations will be able to more easily and securely automate the provisioning of their existing IT systems and interoperate with disparate provisioning installations across multiple departments and organizations." "We are fully committed to open standards for internal provisioning projects, as well as for external identity management projects by providing an open provisioning platform for our customers," said Adrian Viego, CTO of Business Layers. "Business Layers has long been a proponent of using XML and was the first company to propose an XML specification for provisioning nearly two years ago. We are pleased that Netegrity and other vendors have joined in these efforts." Netegrity and Business Layers plan to demonstrate the end-to-end solution at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, April 13-17, 2003. The Services Provisioning Markup Language (SPML) is being defined by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) Provisioning Services Technical Committee (PSTC). For more information about SPML, see http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/provision. About Netegrity, Inc. Netegrity is a leading provider of identity and access management solutions for legacy, Web, and service-oriented architectures. Netegrity provides a comprehensive and integrated identity management solution, with a single administrative model for authentication management, access control, and user administration across heterogeneous environments, both within the enterprise and beyond. Netegrity's flexible, standards-based solutions are designed to enable secure business applications, improve user satisfaction, reduce administrative costs, enforce policy compliance, and mitigate risk. Supported by a vast network of over 200 partners, Netegrity solutions are licensed to more than 250 million users at nearly 700 organizations worldwide, including more than half of the Fortune 100. Customers include industry leaders such as Aetna, American Express, Bank One, ETRADE, General Electric, the Internal Revenue Service, and Wells Fargo. For more information, visit www.netegrity.com. About Business Layers* Business Layers is a leading provider of provisioning solutions, the cornerstone of security and identity management implementations. Business Layers' flagship software product, eProvision, provides an efficient, secure, systematic and scalable system for creating and managing resources for any user, including employees, customers, contractors and business partners. Business Layers was the first company to define and address the Provisioning market, and the first to define a provisioning standard. The Business Layers eProvision Alliance, the broadest alliance program in the provisioning industry, provides the framework to deliver the most comprehensive eProvisioning technology solutions to Business Layers' customers. Winner of the 2002 Network Computing's Editor's Choice Award, the Tornado Insider 100 Award and featured in Computerworld's 'Emerging Companies to Watch' list, Business Layer's eProvision Software has been ranked by top analyst firms such as the Radicati Group as the #1 provisioning technology on the market today. Business Layers is a privately held company funded by leading international investors including Canaan Partners, Ascent Venture Partners, Novell Inc., Gemini Israel Funds, Formula Ventures, Israel Seed Partners, and Garage Technology Ventures. For more information, please contact Business Layers at 877-552-9377, or visit www.businesslayers.com. Contact Business Layers Sharon Tolpin Director of Corporate Communications Tel: 201-291-8999, ext 218 Email: sharon.tolpin@businesslayers.com Netegrity Jennifer Menard Corporate Communications Manager Tel: 781-663-7384 Email: jmenard@netegrity.com Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See general references in "XML-Based Provisioning Services."