Evidian unveils breakthrough in simplified, security management
New AccessMaster PKI Manager software lets organizations issue and manage their own certificates consistent with security policies; new E-Security Wallet frees users from certificate management chores BILLERICA, Mass.; March 26, 2001 – Promising a solution to the complexity of implementing and managing public key infrastructure (PKI) environments essential to secure e-business and enterprise computing, Evidian, a leading vendor of secure e-business management software, today announced PKI Manager, an enhancement under version 6.0 of its award-winning AccessMaster enterprise and Internet security management software.
Thanks to AccessMaster PKI Manager, organizations for the first time have a simple, easy-to-use way to issue and manage their own certificates in a centralized manner, consistent with their enterprise security policies. In addition, public and private keys can be managed for individual users as well as for groups of users, and can be further simplified through the use of Evidian’s secure single sign-on (SSO) capabilities. Also, a new E-Security Wallet allows users to download and transparently use private keys from any enterprise PC, thereby freeing them from the arduous chore of certificate management. “PKI technology provides advanced mechanisms for authentication, signature and encryption of communications,” said Henry Ancona, Evidian president and CEO. “These mechanisms, such as digital certificates, help confirm ‘you are who you say you are’ and keep transactions confidential to create a secure, trusted environment for e-business.
“However, while the benefits of PKI are well known, so is the challenge of deploying this technology,” Ancona said. “Problems include complex administration; poor integration with existing enterprise security policy, and difficulty of end-user certificate management. Evidian addresses these challenges with AccessMaster PKI Manager.”
PKI Manager is designed for large corporations who want to create a secure, trusted environment for e-business, email and other enterprise-critical transactions for intranet and extranet users.
It includes both a Registration Authority, which simplifies PKI administration by automating the generation, storage and policy-based control of keys; and E-Security Wallet, which frees users from certificate management chores. AccessMaster PKI Manager works with and leverages leading PKIs from Netscape and Microsoft; support for Entrust, Baltimore, VeriSign, ID2 and others is planned by year’s end.
AccessMaster PKI Manager uniquely responds to market requirements
As a whole, AccessMaster PKI Manager helps large organizations to take full advantage of PKI technologies to leverage trusted e-business strategies. Its unique combination of features deliver key business benefits by :
Facilitating PKI deployment to enhance e-business trust. By allowing organizations to automate and control the complex process of issuing and managing digital certificates for securing e-business and email applications, AccessMaster PKI Manager offers enterprises a multi-vendor PKI approach, with the ability to deploy and manage easily both in-house and outsourced PKI solutions.
Making the use of PKI transparent for intranet and extranet users. PKI Manager’s E-Security Wallet allows transparent retrieval and use of keys from any desktop PC for authentication, encryption and signature, thus relieving end users of the chore of managing certificates on their own. Better integration of traditional client/server and new PKI security policies. PKI Manager lets organizations leverage single sign-on capabilities to apply and enforce the same security policy – using certificates as well as IDs/passwords – consistently throughout the bricks-to-clicks continuum. This includes B2B, B2E (employee) and email applications (e.g., Netscape Communicator, Outlook 2000, Lotus Notes).
“A robust security infrastructure is essential to the success of any enterprise or e-business initiative.” said Ancona. “With the addition of PKI Manager, AccessMaster leverages today’s powerful PKI technologies with our proven security management expertise to provide a consistent e-security management capability, with exceptional ease of deployment and fast time to value.”
A new software release with a customer-proven success record
The AccessMaster e-business security software suite allows a single, unified security policy to be enforced throughout the e-enterprise for legacy and certificate applications, providing a single administration tool for enterprise-wide security.
Representative AccessMaster customers include among many others EADS (European Aerospace and Defense company) space launcher (Ariane) and Airbus divisions, CNAM (French health system), Norwegian Police, Seat-Tin.it (a leading Italian multimedia company), Barmenia (leading German insurance company), Northern Ireland Government, Caisses d’Epargne (leading European bank) and Altadis (leading European tobacco company). Evidian’s outstanding technology has been recognized by prestigious publications every year since 1996. These include being a featured on-stage presenter at the 2001 Upside Showcase; “Best Access Control Software” by SC Magazine; a “Best of the Best” software product by InternetWeek, “Best Security Software Tool” by Computergram; the Yphyse award for “Best Security Single Sign-On Solution”; and a “Hot Product” award from Data Communications.
Availability and pricing
AccessMaster PKI Manager will be available on May 25. Pricing is $60/user for 5000 users, and is independent of the number of certificates managed per user or per application. Per-user pricing is lower for larger end-user populations. The AccessMaster Registration Authority is available on Windows 2000, Solaris 8, and AIX 4.3.3 platforms. The E-Security Wallet is available on Windows 95/98/2000, NT4, Solaris 7/8 and AIX 4.3.
Evidian, OpenMaster, AccessMaster, and SafeKit are registered trademarks or trademarks of Evidian in the U.S. and other countries. All trademarks, service marks and company names are the property of their respective owners.