Monday, July 14, 2008

What is this product?

Identity Engines Releases Authenticated Network Architecture
SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwire - July 14, 2008) - Identity Engines, a leading provider of role-based access control solutions for heterogeneous networks, today announced the Authenticated Network Architecture (ANA): the industry's first vendor-neutral best practices framework outlining how organizations can migrate from the static, IP-address based architectures of the past, to the newer identity-based controls enabled by recent standards including IEEE 802.1X.

Regulatory compliance mandates such as HIPAA, SOX, PCI, GLBA, NERC/FERC, FERPA, HSPD-12 across multiple industries have driven IT organizations to search for secure, efficient, cost-effective methods of controlling access to their network infrastructure. The ANA framework fulfills that need by leveraging latent enforcement capabilities present in most enterprise network equipment, enabling transparent role-based access across all existing infrastructure (wired, wireless, remote access).


I read the whole release three times, and I only have a vague notion of the product. First of all, what is an authenticated network? If I don't know there is a good chance that even a trade audience won't know. What is a role based access control as oppposed to other forms of access control, and does that belong in the first paragraph?

I don't want to be too censorious here, I used to send out press release like this. Nowadays I use a copy editor, and I keep rewriting the release until she understands what I am talking about. It is a good idea to have a second pair of eyes.

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