* Resources at Network World's HP ProCurve Networking site
White papers vary in quality; sometimes a vendor-written white paper can be commercial puffery devoid of substance, irritating to read, and counterproductive both for reader and sender. However, having written commercial white papers myself, I am often impressed with the work and care devoted to the subject matter in good white papers.
A few days ago, I received word of Network World’s ProCurve Networking Web site. The description says it is devoted to improving “information security, network resiliency, mobility, convergence, and business efficiency.” There were several items of likely interest to readers of this column, especially after clicking the “Security” tab near the top of the page.
“Pushing Security to the Perimeter” is a 10-page white paper subtitled “Trusted Computing Technology Adapts to Changing Enterprise Needs” and, like the rest of the site, is sponsored by HP. The author, Sally Hudson, works for IDC, the research arm of IDG, which is the parent company of Network World and Computerworld. She apparently wrote the paper in fall 2005 based on extensive field research including surveys and interviews, and it was first published in February 2006.
The paper reviews identity and access management (IAM) systems and begins with an abstract that reads in part:
“Security concerns, identity theft and regulatory compliance requirements are converging to drive the need for strong IAM solutions within the enterprise. IDC defines IAM solutions as a comprehensive set of technologies used to identify users in a system by associating user rights and restrictions with the established identity. These solutions can include enterprise single sign-on (SSO), legacy authorization, user provisioning, advanced authentication hardware and software, and other endpoint security solutions. We also profile the ProCurve Identity Driven Manager 2.0 with Adaptive EDGE Architecture to illustrate a cost-effective IAM solution that can help enterprises address their concerns while adding value to their networks.”
The author discusses critical components of IAM, including:
* Advanced authentication such as tokens and biometrics
* SSO for Web applications and for hosts
* Mainframe access controls
* Authorization management, which the author calls “user provisioning”
The paper has additional information about the ProCurve line of products.
Another white paper of interest is “Delivering Intelligent Network Access through IDM” where IDM stands for “identity driven management.” The six-page paper from HP explains that the standard model of identification, authentication and authorization (IA&A) puts intelligence in the core devices and leaves perimeter devices as largely passive. In contrast, IDM puts more intelligence and flexibility into the response of perimeter devices that are the first to interact with users attempting to connect to the network.
In addition to the topical papers, there are a number of product-specific specifications available for download.
The site is attractively laid out, has many topical links on the side and at the bottom, and I think it will be worth readers’ time to visit and monitor this new site.
