Who Are You? Trustgenix Provides Federated Identity Framework

For an identity management solution to have any real applicable value in the enterprise, the solution provider creating it needs to focus on the real issues: federated identity and user authentication.

Federated identity systems centralize all elements associated with a user’s network credentials and then share those credentials across platforms or even organizations. In some cases, a federated identity system is a requirement for companies to partner with each other. At the very least, federated identity can significantly reduce support costs while enhancing security. What’s more, solution providers can combine federated identity concepts with user authentication schemes to offer a centralized system that synchronizes a user’s credentials and access rights across the network.

Crafting such a solution requires a platform that recognizes the tenets of federated identity, user authentication and user access management, but that still offers the flexibility to integrate additional capabilities. Key add-ons are biometrics, security/directory integration or cross-partner capabilities.

With that in mind, Test Center engineers peeked at IdentityBridge Standard Edition (V2.1, Build 18) from Santa Clara, Calif.-based Trustgenix. This is a product that offers much in the way of identity management by acting as an end-point in a cross-company environment for integrating identity information across businesses.

The Standard Edition is a slimmed-down, simplified version of Trustgenix’s enterprise product. The target market is larger companies that have adopted standards-based federation servers and want to expand their pro-cesses to include smaller partners via single sign-on access to Web-based applications.In this edition, Trustgenix has simplified much of the process around federated identity. Initial setup is greatly simplified by a wizard-driven process, during which a prospective partner can simply input the URL of a federated site (the service provider) and then is granted access to associated applications via a portal. Unlike Trustgenix’s enterprise product, this is a one-way process, referred to as a hub-and-spoke model. In this case, applications and user metadata live at the hub, and the spokes are the sites requesting application access. The federated identity process works with most standards-based platforms, so Trustgenix’s enterprise product is not required at the hub site. Currently, the product handles SAML 1.0 and 1.1 and the Liberty Alliance 1.1 and 1.2 identity standards. Trustgenix has demonstrated SAML 2.0 compliance.

Solution providers should be aware that the Standard Edition offers limited operating systems support and can only connect to a single service provider site. While that may seem a serious limitation, the fact is that the product costs only a fraction of enterprise-level offerings and is ideal for bringing small, less-sophisticated edge sites into an enterprises fold.

Trustgenix brings a similar ease of use to its tightly integrated partner program. The company provides product development, collaborative marketing initiatives and joint-sales efforts worldwide with its authorized VARs. Prospective partners must demonstrate experience working in identity management, access control and single sign-on solutions. Experience with large-scale enterprise environments is a must, and VARs must make an ongoing product sales commitment to Trustgenix.

For qualified partners, the company offers presales support, cooperative selling, product training, and marketing and technical support.

For solution providers looking to help enterprises partner with other businesses, TrustGenix offers the technical goods and the channel support to guarantee success.