Evidian acquires Enatel, specialized in enterprise single sign-on (E SSO)

Evidian strengthens its position as European number one in identity and access management (IAM) 
 

Paris, 20 September 2005 – Evidian has today completed the acquisition of Enatel, specialized in information systems access security and publisher of the WiseGuard software suite. The acquisition will enable Evidian to strengthen its AccessMaster software suite, dedicated to identity management and secure access to information systems while reinforcing its own range of E SSO solutions.

“This strategic acquisition marks a new phase in the development of Bull Evidian as a world-wide publisher of security solutions, and underscores Bull’s momentum as Europe’s number one in information systems security,” confirms Jean-Pierre Barbéris, General Manager of Bull’s Services and Solutions activities. “With Enatel’s technologies we will be able to respond even more effectively to our customers’ access management requirements, in terms of even greater modularity, easier deployment and faster return on investment.”

Enatel technology provides secure access to applications using unique user authentication combined with new tools such as smart cards and biometry.

Enatel’s solutions make it much simpler to deploy a decentralized access management policy, building on the organization’s existing infrastructure in a transparent way.

With a customer base incorporating a population of over 500,000 users, Enatel’s solutions are marketed and sold across Europe and have been chosen by many major companies including Renault-Nissan, Total and Suez.

“Today, this marks a major step forward for Enatel, which will enable us to put our WiseGuard solutions onto the world stage and enable the combined Evidian/Enatel solutions to reach an even wider user community,” explains Hassan Maad, CEO and founder of Enatel. “We will supply our customers with a comprehensive, modular solution that responds to their most urgent demands in terms of security, productivity and meeting new regulatory requirements,” Maad adds. He joins the Evidian management team as Vice-President responsible for business development for the combined solution portfolio.

The acquisition is in line with the long-standing collaborative working relationship between the two companies, which most notably resulted in the integration of part of Enatel’s technology into Evidian’s AccessMaster enterprise SSO solution. Bringing together WiseGuard and Evidian’s own access management solutions will enable rapid capitalization on two complementary technologies and will offer a response to the growing need to bring information systems security in line with new regulatory requirements, such as Sarbanes Oxley

About Bull and Evidian

Bull designs and develops servers, software and services for an open environment, integrating the most advanced technologies. Bull brings its customers its expertise and know-how to help them in the transformation of their information systems and optimize their IT infrastructure and their applications.

Evidian, a subsidiary of Bull, is the European number one and one of the world’s major players in Identity and Access Management (IAM). Evidian’s AccessMaster new-generation IAM software suite integrates virtual identity management, provisioning, PKI, dynamic access control and SSO, in all types of environments: from traditional applications to web/J2EE applications. Evidian software helps numerous organizations in Europe, the Americas and Asia to improve their flexibility, reduce costs, enhance their security and improve their regulatory compliance (Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, Bâle II,…). Evidian’s IAM solution has been recognized by many international awards. In 2005, Bull Evidian launched ‘IAM NOW >’, an initiative designed to boost the deployment of identity and access management in large organizations, providing rapid ROI.

About Enatel

Enatel is a leading European provider of security and authentication solutions, specializing in enterprise single sign-on (SSO) access management. Since it was founded in 1998, Enatel has supported many large organizations in the deployment of major projects linked to user access security.

Bolstered by its wide experience with major public and private-sector organizations, Enatel has developed an innovative solution which provides a pragmatic response to a security problem long seen as especially complex: password management.

The modules within Enatel’s WiseGuard software suite ensure that companies apply the rules of distributed security effectively, based on their existing infrastructure, while at the same time reducing the costs involved in aligning their access control with new regulatory requirements. Enatel grown strongly and has been consistently profitable since it was founded, and is making its mark as a visionary player in the industry, who can help customers successfully develop their new identity management systems.