Intel intros Single Sign On across cloud, on Salesforce

SANTA CLARA, USA: Intel Corporation announcement that Intel Cloud Single sign-on (SSO), a cloud-based identity and access management-as-a-service (IAMaaS), is now delivered on Force.com, Salesforce.com's social enterprise platform.

The solution will help enterprise users utilize Salesforce credentials to access popular cloud applications.

SSO from Force.com provides seamless access to applications, such as Box.com Cisco WebEx, Google Apps and Salesforce, thus reducing the number of passwords required.

Enterprises can rely on Intel Cloud SSO to deliver identity and access management functions in the cloud; provision, synchronize and de-provision access to cloud applications; address security concerns with two-factor mobile-based authentication; and deliver comprehensive reporting and auditing features to comply with regulatory requirements, says a release.

"Today, outsourcing identity and security as a service is a viable, fully functional and economical option for companies of all sizes," said Girish Juneja, director, Intel Application Security and Identity Products. "The prospect of removing security complexity and relieving the burden of providing connectivity to an ever-increasing list of SaaS apps just makes business sense."

"Small companies will be able to dramatically increase security over custom in-house solutions and larger enterprises can quickly supplement on-premise identity infrastructure to secure remote, mobile or M&A-acquired user populations With Intel Cloud SSO's support for federated SSO standards, a company can maintain full control and gain confidence that the solution is delivered via a proven cloud platform with Force.com."

Intel and salesforce.com are joining forces to deliver this multi-tenant service offering on Force.com.

Initial capabilities include cloud SSO, two-factor authentication using one-time password (OTP) delivered via mobile devices (including Apple iPhone/iPad, Android devices or RIM Blackberry), user account provisioning/de-provisioning, as well as an application portal providing secure access to a catalog of authorized cloud applications.

The application supports user authentication and account synchronization with on-premise enterprise identity repositories, such as Active Directory or any LDAP-enabled directory, via a lightweight Identity Bridge that is available for download by an administrator.

Support for industry standards, such as Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML), OpenID, Simple Cloud Identity Management (SCIM), offer assurance that the application will keep pace as the market matures.

"Social enterprises are changing the way they collaborate, communicate and share information in the cloud," said Ron Huddleston, senior vice president, ISV and Channel at salesforce.com. "Intel Cloud SSO provides customers strong authentication from mobile devices and other platforms to help customers achieve heightened security while taking advantage of the social, mobile and trusted capabilities expected from the salesforce.com ecosystem."

In addition, Box, a leading cloud-based collaboration and file-sharing company, has joined with Intel to offer a free Enterprise trial account to users who sign up for Intel Cloud SSO.

Intel Cloud SSO is part of a broader cloud security play from Intel and McAfee.

The trial version of Intel Cloud SSO is available immediately at http://www.intelcloudsso.com/ , or on salesforce.com's AppExchange, the app marketplace for the social enterprise, at http://appexchange.salesforce.com/