ActivCard Single Sign-On is an intelligently designed solution that will easily integrate into most enterprise environments.
Full support for chip cards is provided and, indeed, it offers an intuitive and practical approach to single sign-on from the user's perspective. A temporary password function is offered for when a user is without their card.
Roaming users are supported, too. The product features a server side service that may be installed on an existing directory server, and administrator tools to manage user credentials and configure policies for individual users or groups.
The ActivClient sits on the client machines and provides authentication services and device management services where appropriate, managing the user's passwords for applications that have been configured for automated sign-on. Once users have authenticated themselves, password-protected applications may be easily accessed and passwords automatically provided.
A broad range of potential applications and infrastructures are supported, from Windows and web applications to mainframes and terminal emulators, making the product a very comprehensive and versatile product in the right hands, especially when you include the integral token support and multi-factor authentication possibilities. Integration with provisioning systems, such as IBM Tivoli, is also provided for, as is custom scripting support using Microsoft VBScript.
Installation of the ActivClient and various tools is straightforward and the tools enable a fine degree of configuration of activities, policies and credentials. However, this is clearly no plug-and-play solution. Systems administrators would be well advised to consider their requirements in advance and be prepared to invest some time in deployment, to get the very best from ActivCard Single Sign-On.
In this context, the product may truly be considered as an enterprise level single sign on solution, offering the power and flexibility to cover almost any situation encountered in contemporary computing activities.
