Cellular giant Vodacom is upgrading its Web access control system, Webcon, to improve performance and boost flexibility. Custom-built for Vodacom two years ago by MGX Software Development`s Java Factory in Cape Town, Webcon addresses the need for restricted and monitored access to corporate Web services.
"We approached MGX nearly two years ago to source a solution that would allow us to consolidate our intranet applications," says Vodacom system specialist Johan Ferreira. "We needed a solution that would verify users once and then give them access to multiple intranet applications - essentially a user administration and session management tool.
"We initially used it exclusively for intranet access control; we`ve since installed Webcon on the extranet that our service providers use. We`re now upgrading to the latest iteration, version 4.3, which integrates with any Web server, instead of a Java servlet. This improves access speed and adds flexibility," says Ferreira.
As part of MGX`s Online Business Anywhere (OBA) toolkit, Webcon addresses the three key challenges of corporate Web access control:
Control of access and usage of your services;
A single reliable source of information on usage from all points; and
Centralised user profile management.
"Webcon will run on any `Java-supported` environment and acts primarily as a `gatekeeper` to a company`s Web services," says Willem Visser, senior architect at MGX Software Development. "It provides access security by authorising and monitoring user and proxy server access to these services.
It also consolidates and integrates information on authorised service users, providing a detailed audit trail for each user. Additionally it provides an industry-standard XML SOAP (eXtensible Markup Language Simple Object Access Protocol) interface to allow Web applications to communicate with Webcon."
Webcon was written entirely in Java, supports the SSL (Secure Socket Layer) protocol and integrates with all standard Web environments.
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