Resources for Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC)

Redux in the identity management market

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In the 1990s, implementing identity management was the IT equivalent of entering quicksand.

Projects took years, requiring process changes, custom integration, and organizational buy-in.

Many companies underestimated the time, cost, and effort to get identity right resulting in a number of highly publicized project failures.

Over time, enterprises developed a much more rational approach to identity management. Rather than take on yet another "boil the ocean" IT initiative, large organizations eschewed big projects in favor of a more piecemeal approach, implementing high-value products in areas such as user provisioning, Web access, or central management.

This buying behavior led to an inevitable cycle on the supply side. First, VCs threw money at identity start-ups like Netegrity, Oblix, and Thor that offered niche products. The start-ups then went to market where the best products, and execution won out. Finally, established leaders were gobbled up in an acquisition binge. CA grabbed Netegrity; Oracle bought Oblix and Thor; Sun Microsystems acquired Waveset Technologies. Pretty soon, there were a few large vendors (BMC, CA, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, and Sun) offering identity management suites.

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