Rediscovering Identity Management

A few years back, it seemed liked everybody and their brother was focused on identity management as the Holy Grail of security management.

Then everybody seemed to figure out that identity management was actually pretty hard to accomplish in the enterprise, and interest dropped accordingly. But it looks like interest in identity management as the key to both security and process management is on the rise again.

Quest Software has announced its intention to acquire Volker Informatik AG, a provider of identity management software based in Germany. According to Jackson Shaw, senior director of product management for Quest Software, all of Quest’s software will eventually make use of a common user interface and identity management framework developed by Volker Informatik.

Beyond the engineering scope of such a project, what makes this interesting is that not only is Quest trying to bring all its products under a common interface, it’s trying to lay the foundation for automating workflow across its products.

In many ways, what Shaw is talking about is finally delivering on the original promise of Microsoft’s Active directory software. Alas, most IT organizations make little use of the full features of Active Directory. But as companies such as Quest Software continue to evolve, hope springs eternal that one of these days somebody is going to deliver on the promise of Active Directory.