By Simon Hodgson in New Orleans
Computer Associates International Inc unveiled its new eTrust security product range at its user conference in New Orleans yesterday, together with a first contract win for the new offering, global banking alliance Identrus.
CEO Charles Wang said that eTrust would offer customers a complete set of security products to compete directly with point security software tools from other providers. ETrust is mainly comprised of products that CA has obtained through its many acquisitions. Platinum Technology Inc contributed Policy Compliance Manager, software which assesses a security system’s vulnerability, as well as OpenDirectory, a database full of information on a the security network, such as who has which privileges.
Memco Ltd, itself acquired by Platinum shortly before the latter was swallowed by CA, is the origin of the single sign-on software, previously known as Proxima. An intrusion detection tool, SessionWall, comes from Abirnet Ltd, acquired by Memco in July 1998.
All the separate products run on different platforms. SessionWall, for example, runs on Windows NT, 95 and 98 operating systems, although it can detect intrusion on Unix and OS/390 platforms. The SeOS access control product, however, will not work on OS/390. CA says that each piece of the suite will be tailored for a designated market. There are a number of other access control products from CA, such as TopSecret and ACF2. Kurt Ziegler, senior vice president of CA’s security business, told ComputerWire that all the products would work together.
Other elements in the suite include access control, virtual private network facility, public/private key infrastructure, firewall, certification management and content inspection. Integration and services for eTrust will be provided by CA’s own Global Product Services arm as well as by systems integrators which will be announced, says Ziegler, within the month.
Rapid deployment of certification infrastructure, inclusive services and maintenance, and multiple products are the three differentiators that CA hopes will give it an edge over the rest of the security software market. The company is developing templates for both vertical markets, including financial services, retail and e-commerce, and for each element in the eTrust suite.
eTrust users will also benefit, Wang claimed, from CA’s management of the certification issuance. He referred to the internal debate over which departments had control over the certification information, whether human resources, IT or other senior management, saying the political battle takes the longest time.
