The Siemens AG subsidiary Siemens Information and Communication Networks Inc. last week outlined its plans to marry physical security and network/information security in a wide-ranging initiative.
Siemens ICN, based in Boca Raton, Fla., last week debuted its HiPath SIcurity Solutions portfolio of products and services geared toward network and application-level security for IP networks. The portfolio includes consulting services, risk-assessment and management tools, network and system security, smart-card-based access control, and digital signatures, as well as provisioning and identity management with Siemens HiPath MetaDirectory tools.
“Were looking at it from across the Siemens operating companies. This is a holistic approach to support customers from early assessment through design, implementation and operation,” said Chris Meaney, director of secure networks for Siemens Enterprise Networks, in Atlanta.
The five building blocks in the HiPath SIcurity Solutions offering include identity management; IP-based security, including firewalls, intrusion detection systems and virtual private networks; consulting and design services; mobile security and smart-card infrastructure. Many of those building blocks are best-of-breed offerings from third-party providers.
Siemens ICN brings to the table a smart-card operating system and set of identity management tools based on its LDAP-based MetaDirectory products, which can be used to create a single directory for other subsystems.
Siemens ICN combined its HiPath MetaDirectory with smart-card products to provide an identity management system for electronic transactions. Siemens will also leverage smart-card technology to create a digital-signature product to allow enterprises to digitally sign and encrypt electronic messages.
Delaware State University is testing SIcurity HiPath MetaDirectory and smart cards to provide access to locked rooms and computer systems, according to Charles Fletcher Jr., CIO at the university, in Dover.
“Its the easy way of marrying those two types of security, and its encrypted. It really works,” Fletcher said.