Oracle buys into ID management

Oracle officials have stepped into the enterprise identity management market today with the acquisition of Oblix, a provider of security and web access control software.

By acquiring Oblix, a nine-year-old Cupertino, Calif.-based company, Oracle officials will now be able to offer customers the ability to securely manage user identities across Oracle and non-Oracle applications, said Thomas Kurian, senior vice president, Oracle Server Technologies. Identity management software helps information technology staff in organizations manage user access control and privileges across web and enterprise applications.

The market for this software is growing 20 to 25 percent annually because users want to lower administration costs by centralizing management of security, Kurian said. Officials at Computer Associates, IBM and Sun Microsystems have also purchased identity management companies to gain a presence in this market.

Kurian said that Oracle’s move is different from other attempts because in addition to providing identity management for Oracle applications, the company can now provide secure access control over heterogeneous environments.

Oblix’s identity and web services management software will complement Oracle’s offerings and will be included as a part of Oracle Application Server 10g, he said.

Oblix’s single sign on technology will also forge greater integration between Oracle applications and PeopleSoft and JD Edwards applications, which were obtained through acquisitions of those two companies, he said.

Effective immediately, Oblix’s development and sales teams are now a part of Oracle. Gordon Eubanks, president and CEO of Oblix, will not be joining Oracle, but will remain as a consultant throughout the transition, Kurian said. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.