Single sign-on, the last mile of identity management, has long proven a missing link for major identity access providers. Over the past few years, IBM and Oracle have relied on a partnership with Passlogix, a company that largely pioneered the market.

Not disclosing the price, IBM sprung for Encentuate, a company a fraction of the size of IBM’s former partner.
 

Understandably, as IBM’s Tivoli Access Manager already had the web and federation pieces down, it’s not surprising that they wanted more than an OEM relationship for what is arguably the most visible piece of identity management.

Although barely 40 staff, Encentuatehad an outsized market presence, numbering over 80 global customers. Its deployment with the Singapore government (where the company was based) served tens of thousands of users – maybe that's a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of users claimed by Passlogix in some of its largest accounts, but the numbers are hardly trivial.

In essence, IBM is getting a more digestible company for a price, while not disclosed, was likely a fraction of what it would have had to shell out for Passlogix. While functionality is largely on par, there are some differences with strong authentication, where Encentuate claims tighter integration, and the fact that they offer web-based access for end users to get to their applications. IBM also claims that Encentuate’s J2EE architecture makes it easier to integrate into Tivoli Access Manager, of which it will become a part.

Given IBM’s previous relationship with Passlogix, it’s not surprising that it has had few joint engagements. But IBM claims good progress on integrating Passlogix in the lab, and promises new product as part of a Tivoli Access Manager rev in Q3.

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