RSA updates Authentication Manager with business continuity, extended authentication methods

It's RSA week in San Francisco, so that means lots of announcements, even if they're only of the "I'm waving so you know I'm still here" variety. I fondly remember one such announcement from a few years ago that, in essence, said: "We added four new customers last quarter, none of whom you ever heard of. So we're not jumping the shark just yet." Actually, a press release like that means you have jumped the shark, and - as proof - that company wasn't around a year later.

Before getting to the RSA announcements, though, I’d like to point you to a fascinating panel discussion from Novell's recent Brainshare conference. Novell and Bandit Project engineer Dale Olds, Microsoft Identity Architect Kim Cameron, Ping ID CTO Patrick Harding and the Pamela Project’s Pam Dingle all got together (guided by Carolyn Ford from Novell’s product marketing team) to discuss “Open Source and User-centric Identity in the Enterprise,” a subject near and dear to my heart. I’d remarked that I was sorry I missed the session, so Novell’s friendly flakette, Charlotte Betterley, got it posted online just so I could watch it. At least, that’s what she said. Now you can watch it too and learn how user-centric identity can play in your enterprise.

Back to the RSA conference and it’s only right that the host gets to go first. RSA (and, as it keeps reminding me, the entity is now called “RSA, the security division of EMC”) is making two significant announcements. It has been very quiet lately, so this does show that it has at least been thinking about the identity space.

First, the company outlined its Identity Assurance platform. This will have four components: credential management, authentication, contextual authorization, and intelligence (well, we’ll hope there’s intelligence in all the modules, but what RSA means, it was explained to me, is that this intelligence provides knowledge back into the business, and the confidence to explore and exploit new business models and channels.) I’m particularly pleased to see contextual authorization included as a major, and separate, component.