IBM Corp. software subsidiary Tivoli Systems Inc. on Oct. 24 unveiled new products that industry experts say will address some pressing user needs that have been overlooked in security offerings to date.
The company introduced Tivoli Identity Director, software to manage and automate user access rights and provisioning, and Tivoli Intrusion Manager, which is software that filters enterprise security events and alerts net managers to potential risks. Tivoli also enhanced its Policy Director e-business authorization software to support WebSphere, SAP AG, Plumtree Software Inc., BroadVision Inc. and BEA Software e-business applications.
Hurwitz analyst Pete Lindstrom says Tivoli’s three releases address security issues that have tended to slip through the cracks. These include managing a user’s online lifecycle, handling the vast number of security alerts and managing authorization rights in Web and legacy networks.
In the past year, he says, users’ security concerns have grown in terms of user access and authorization, and Tivoli products can help users better manage all the security resources in their network.
“Tivoli is starting to link into some of the softer spots in the security space. The dirty little secret in the security world is that there’s a plethora of user accounts,” Lindstrom says. “Identity Director gives users the proper management capabilities to control who has access to what resources.”
According to Tivoli, Identity Director can help automate user account creation, provisioning of network and physical resources, and user account deletion. The Identity Director software is installed on a server. It comes with a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) database, together with Tivoli agents that reside throughout the network to help automate the provisioning process. The software can also be configured to work with any other LDAP-compliant database.
When prompted from a human resources application to create a user, for example, the software will automatically assign the applications, directories, network, Web and e-mail tools the new user can access. The software will also immediately restrict access when a user account is terminated.
Tivoli’s second new product, Intrusion Manager, is a spin off from Tivoli Risk Manager software. It gives users a central location to view and manage security events from disparate sources. It also provides a vulnerability assessment that the company says will help users proactively change their networks to prevent attacks or plug security holes.
“There are all kinds of IDS [intrusion detection system] alerts happening, but no one place to make sense of them,” Lindstrom says. “Tivoli is giving users a place to manage security events and software to help stave off potential attacks.”
Additionally, the enhancements to Policy Director, Lindstrom says, pushes the product’s security capabilities further back into the enterprise network. The added support further integrates the Web world and legacy systems for the company, he says, and provides users with one policy management tool that works across their entire infrastructure.
All of the products are available now, and the company says pricing is based on volume and number of user licences.
Tivoli is at http://www.tivoli.com.
