Breaking News - Security:

RSA Security, Juniper Networks Extend Strategic Partnership

RSA Security Inc and Juniper Networks Inc announced the completion of certified interoperability between the Juniper Networks NetScreen Secure Access SSL VPN and RSA Federated Identity Manager, allowing joint customers to streamline the process of identifying users and controlling access to resources. RSA Security and Juniper Networks customers can now cost-effectively provide security enforcement and extend access to critical resources without the need for incremental server hardening, resource replication and ongoing administration/patch maintenance.

Extending their strategic partnership with this significant interoperability achievement, RSA Security and Juniper Networks are committed to helping joint customers leverage their new and existing identity and access management investments for cost, productivity and security advantages. The interoperable RSA Security and Juniper Networks products provide single sign- on (SSO) for users to the various applications and environments to which they are allowed access within the security controls of the Juniper Networks SSL VPN.

"Our SSL VPN customers are looking for integration with best-of-breed identity and access management functionality to cost-effectively control access to their resources," said Tony Scarfo, senior director of partner management at Juniper Networks. "RSA Security has been an industry pioneer in the drive for the SAML standard, which allows for standards-based integration. We are pleased to continue our work with them. Together, we enable joint customers to benefit from greatly reduced administration costs of their security architectures, as well as provide extensible architectures for future deployments."

Supporting the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) standard developed within OASIS, an XML-based framework for ensuring securely transmitted communications, the RSA Federated Identity Manager and the Juniper Networks SSL VPN can interoperate via standards-based interfaces to administer authentication, authorization and SSO policies stored in corporate directories. Certified through the RSA Secured Partner program, the product interoperability has been thoroughly tested and documented, offering additional customer assurance of high levels of ease of use and faster time to deployment.

RSA Federated Identity Manager is a standalone solution that allows organizations to securely exchange trusted identities across autonomous business units or government agencies and with customers and partners. The ability to conduct business online and access applications across business boundaries with a single, recognized identity can simplify the user experience and facilitate online collaboration.

The Juniper Networks NetScreen Secure Access appliances are the industry's only SSL VPNs to integrate the prevalent SAML standard. The SSL VPN facilitates web SSO and authorized access via SAML assertions to the central directory store without the need for replication of resource policies or the replication of application software, greatly reducing extranet, intranet and remote access deployment costs. By using the Juniper Networks SSL VPN to intermediate requests for application and network access, enterprises no longer need to replicate and manage the deployment of application servers into a demilitarized zone (DMZ), thus significantly reducing their operational overhead associated with policy and security management.

"Our large customer base demands ease of use, which speaks to central management of user security policies, balanced with enhanced security and interoperability," said Jason Lewis, vice president of product management and marketing at RSA Security. "SAML was a natural use between our two products because it meets these needs in a cost effective, highly efficient and open standards manner. As an early contributor and driver of the SAML standard, contributing intellectual property as well as the co-chair of the committee, we are very pleased to have been able to apply it with Juniper Networks for the benefit of our customers."

RSA Security and Juniper Networks have worked together successfully certifying several products within the RSA Secured Partner Program and the Juniper Global Alliances Program. These products include: Juniper Networks NetScreen Integrated Firewall/IPSec VPN (certified with RSA SecurID and RSA Keon solutions); and Juniper Networks NetScreen Secure Access (certified with RSA SecurID and RSA Keon solutions).