Sun aims to play a stronger identity management card

Sun Microsystems has launched Identity Manager 8.0, a role-based user provisioning system that the company says is targeted at enterprise and extranet environments where identity lifecycle management and auditing needs exist.

With the increasing global focus on compliance, Sun says its latest release features an expanded data export and verification engine so that business roles can be used to drive identity policies for all individuals in their respective roles within a business.

Identity Manager 8.0 features "closed-loop" compliance techniques, a system of transforming inputs into outputs while ensuring that controls and rules exist to regulate that process and thereby provide the ability to review and correct improperly assigned access.

Sun's Identity Manager 8.0 also includes major updates in operational reporting so that companies can analyse their legal entitlement data, which can help them gain better control of provisioning and auditing processes. Reports suggest that this helps when these businesses have to expand their services via the internet and address government regulations such as Basel 2 and Sarbanes-Oxley.

Sun Identity Manager 8.0 is available as a standalone product or with the Sun Java Identity Management Suite, which includes Sun Role Manager on a subscription or license basis.