Research firm Gartner claims regulatory compliance has created continued client interest and hype regarding certain identity and access management (IAM) technologies, including role management for enterprises (RME), separation of duties for ERP and resource access management.
"Operational efficiency and user convenience have also been key drivers in 2007, with Web access management, password management and enterprise single sign-on [being] increasingly adopted," it says.
"Interest in stronger authentication technologies has increased and we are witnessing the emergence of personal identity frameworks (PIFs) that are evolutionary IAM extensions intended to help enterprises more conveniently use and protect identity credentials and attributes. Regulatory compliance continues to be a key driver of IAM implementations," the research house notes.
"Other business drivers are cost containment, business facilitation and user convenience. In deciding how to implement IAM, security managers face a dilemma. Investing in an over-hyped technology too early can waste enterprise security funds, while delaying [for] too long means that an enterprise risks giving competitors an edge."
The hype cycle on this page clearly illustrates which technologies Gartner considers to have reached a point were they are stable and well established, and which implementers should keep an eye on with a view to implementing once they mature.
A step back
Since Q1 2007, Gartner has seen continued high client interest regarding user provisioning implementations.
"Clients have increasingly realised that role management capabilities are needed with user provisioning implementations. User provisioning vendors, generally, have not yet delivered this role management capability in provisioning products and are partnering with RME vendors. This has led us to move user provisioning backward on the IAM Technologies Hype Cycle for 2007."
Gartner has made a few name modifications too: identity audit and compliance technologies is now referred to as 'identity auditing' and resource access management has changed to 'resource access administration'. Both changes, according to Gartner, more accurately portray the functions that these technologies provide.
"Clinical Context Object Workgroup, a Health Level Seven standard protocol, has made it to the Plateau of Productivity this year as clinical environments have increasingly found value in being able to easily access related medical information among disparate systems. Versatile authentication services, PIFs, shared account/service account password management and lightweight one-time password authentication methods are new on the Hype Cycle."
* Report courtesy of Gartner. Information sourced from Hype Cycle for Identity and Access Management Technologies, 2007.
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