In a move to bolster its identity and access management capabilities, IBM has announced its acquisition of Encentuate, Inc., a private company in Redwood City, Calif., specializing in single sign-on capabilities for enterprises.
IBM said in a statement that it will integrate Encentuate into IBM Software Group's Tivoli division. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The company noted that identity and access management has become a critical issue for businesses, driven in large part by businesses' efforts to comply with the growing number of worldwide regulatory requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, Basel II, Japan's Financial Instruments and Exchange Law and the Payment Card Industry's customer identity protection requirements. IBM pointed to a February 2008 Forrester Research report that illustrates the trend. According to the report, the identity and access management market will grow from $2.6 billion in 2006 to more than $12.3 billion in 2014.
IBM noted that enterprises are increasingly hungry for single sign-on software and that Encentuate is a proven leader in that realm.
"IBM has made a strategic decision to acquire Encentuate because customers are increasingly seeking a complete identity and access management solution with IBM quality and support," Al Zollar, general manager of IBM Tivoli software, said in a press release. "Encentuate technology advances our capabilities in enterprise single sign-on by offering customers an easy to
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Michael S. Mimoso, Editorial Director
use solution, more flexible integration with strong authentication form factors, dynamic session management and compliance-focused auditing and reporting capabilities."
Zorawar Biri Singh, president and CEO at Encentuate, said, "We are pleased to join IBM and we believe that this acquisition validates the value that our single sign-on solutions bring to the market as the need for secure identity and access management continues to grow," said "Our customers will significantly benefit from IBM's worldwide customer support and continued investment in integrated security software that leverages our technology."