Novell Strikes a Deal to Provide Cloud-Based Security for Verizon

Financially troubled Novell, which recently rejected a $2 billion takeover bid by a hedge fund but apparently is still listening to buyout offers at the right stock price, had some better news April 29.
The IT networking and middleware provider has struck a deal with telecommunications giant Verizon to provide on-demand, cloud-based secure-access services for its upcoming SAAS (software as a service) application offerings.
Verizon is jumping headlong into the cloud services business. On March 31, the company introduced a cloud service and software offering in partnership with IBM that will make existing “industrial-strength” Verizon data storage services more accessible for data centers.
An increasing number of telecom companies globally are discovering that they are already well-situated physically in their data centers to also provide cloud computing services to run alongside their communications racks.
As companies move into this burgeoning market, new and savvier types of security offerings that safeguard stored data are necessary to satisfy additional requirements and regulations.
Novell will supply the innards for Verizon’s Secure Access Services, a new on-demand identity and access management service that the company claims will make it easy and cost-effective for enterprise clients to outsource the infrastructure and expertise required to extend and manage user access to cloud-based resources-including health care records, retail applications and financial services functions.
At the same time, users of the new package will maintain full control over policies regarding security, access and data governance, Novell said.
Centralized management is the key
With Secure Access Services, enterprises can tap into centralized management of Web access to applications and network services, identity federation and Web single sign-on-without additional hardware or software, or dedicated IT resources, Novell said. The service’s built-in audit features are aimed to help clients ease the burden of compliance reporting related to the access of systems and data.
The Verizon Secure Access Services software package will become available to U.S.-based Verizon and Novell clients based beginning in June, Novell said.