* Security maven and provisioning guru get together
Often I’ll receive a press release touting a new “technological partnership” between two companies in which their respective PR agencies try very hard to convince a skeptical journalist that there really is a synergy between two wildly incompatible organizations. It’s the technology equivalent of a “one night stand,” usually followed by a large hangover and a long period where the two organizations not only stop speaking to each other but actively avoid being in the same room.
At the other extreme is a situation such as the one that occurred between IBM and Access360, in which Big Blue acquired the provisioning management tools vendor. Not only was there a partnership, but one partner changed its name and they both promised to stay together for eternity. And while it might not have been a marriage made in heaven, it certainly seems to be working for the newlyweds.
Much more rare than either of these situations is an actual technological partnership where both parties retain their independence and identity while forging new products – or new versions of old products – that leverage each other’s intellectual property. This would be for the benefit of – no, I won’t get carried away and say for the benefit of humanity – it’s for the benefit of both organizations’ bottom lines. But that usually only occurs when their customers realize that the partnership is providing real value.
One of these rare partnerships was announced this week, between Entrust (the security mavens) and Waveset Technologies (the provisioning gurus). It’s not a one-night stand, but it isn’t ’till death do us part, either. Rather, it’s more like two rational people deciding to set up housekeeping together but as roommates, with each maintaining a separate bedroom. Entrust will bring out the “Entrust Secure Identity Management Solution” based on Waveset’s technology.
Waveset, in turn, will bring out a version of Lighthouse with “strong security services” based on Entrust’s technology. The products and services will be tightly integrated, yet customers can still decouple the technologies should they so desire. Someone might want to use Entrust’s security products with Business Layers’ identity management. Someone else might prefer Waveset’s provisioning but Netegrity’s security. Customers can still do that, but by going with the combination of Waveset and Entrust there’s a multiplier factor in the shared technology which makes the actual implementation worth more than simply the sum of its parts.
These are two good companies and leaders in their respective areas. Their plan, as outlined to me by Waveset’s Sara Gates, director of product marketing and Kevin Cunningham, vice president of marketing, along with Leah MacMillan Entrust’s director of solutions marketing, seems to have the right balance although only time will tell if it can be successful. In many ways this type of relationship is even harder to maintain than an outright merger, but both partners are approaching it with their eyes wide open and with a feeling of mutual respect. Both know that this could be an industry dominating combination. What goes on after the lights go out is none of our business.
