HP buys identity management player


2 Dec 2005

IT industry giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire identity management solutions player Trustgenix for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition is expected to close in the next 30 days.

The deal builds on HP’s recent acquisitions of companies like AppIQ and the recently announced agreement to acquire Peregrine Systems that round out the management capabilities of HP’s enterprise portfolio.

Upon the closing of the acquisition, HP plans to integrate Trustgenix and its software solutions into the HP OpenView management software portfolio. The acquisition will allow HP to rapidly extend the federation capabilities of HP OpenView, enabling enterprise customers to help their business partners secure access to information residing on different systems.

Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Trustgenix is HP’s original equipment manufacturing partner for HP OpenView Select Federation, which uses industry-standard federation protocols to link multiple accounts with different providers on the internet so that secure user authentication occurs only once. When a user navigates to different sites belonging to the same federation, Select Federation recognizes the user and is able to provide a secure, personalized experience based on the user’s preferences and identity.

“Identity federation appeals strongly to companies in the telecommunications, financial services, manufacturing and government industries,” said Todd DeLaughter, vice president and general manager, OpenView Business Unit, HP.

“Adding Trustgenix solutions to OpenView will bolster our efforts to help customers securely and quickly expand their enterprises to include business partners.”

By John Kennedy