ARMONK, USA: IBM has announced open client and partner testing of the new IBM Optim Data Privacy Solution for use with SAP solutions, which provides advanced enterprise data management and data privacy capabilities in support of SAP applications.

The IBM Optim Data Privacy Solution offers data masking techniques to protect privacy in the more vulnerable development, testing and training environments. This capability goes beyond the typical controls and authorization strategies available to protect application data in SAP solution-based production environments.

"Today, it is imperative that companies implement comprehensive data protection strategies across their enterprise IT environments, with protecting data privacy as one of the key components," stated Jim Lee, Director of Optim Product Line Management for IBM. "Optim provides powerful data transformation capabilities to mask personal information, so that companies can use it safely for application testing. And with Optim's capabilities to scale across an enterprise, companies can quickly achieve measurable benefits. IBM remains committed to delivering solutions that help ease the pains associated with privacy compliance, now and moving forward."

The Optim Data Privacy Solution for use with SAP solutions addresses privacy issues by delivering application-specific templates that include predefined attributes, for example to de-identify employee data in the SAP ERP Human Capital Management solution. These capabilities enable customer sites to begin with the most common attributes and customize as needed. With personal data masked across all occurrences, developers and testers can use realistic test data and produce valid test results, and still comply with privacy legislation.

For instance, organizations can use the Optim software to mask names, addresses, national identification numbers, payment card and e-mail addresses, with a fictitious, but contextually accurate substitute data. Companies also need to adapt an enterprise focus for protecting privacy by deploying a consistent data masking methodology across applications, platforms and operating environments.

"The introduction of the Optim Data Privacy Solution in support of SAP applications enforces our commitment to expanding our Optim enterprise data management capabilities across a variety of applications, databases, operating systems and hardware platforms," said Al Smith, Director Optim Engineering for IBM. "In this regard, the input from our clients and partners is invaluable to ensure that our solutions provide functionality that continues to delivers business value."