Avatier Identity Anywhere
Redefining Identity Management with Docker

When Identity management as a Service (IDaaS) grabbed the spotlight in the enterprise solutions arena, a number of prominent brands began rolling out promising product offerings. Cloud-based identity management sure had some advantages: It took away the hassle of IT administrators to manage employee login credentials on-premise; they neither had to worry about system updates nor installing hardware. Enterprises, lured by the surface level robustness of these cloud-based offerings failed to notice its underlying volatility and began to trust the provider with their credentials. Quite inevitably, breaches came in as alarming eye-openers. “Most of the other providers adopt a multi-tenant solution, which means data of all their clients are co-mingled. Also, many solutions require companies to create a separate identity with a password; as such, they are merely copying their digital environment to the cloud,” observes Nelson Cicchitto, Chairman and CEO of Avatier, a 21-year-old full-stack identity management vendor. “What we are introducing is Identity Management as a Container (IDaaC) with our Identity Anywhere offering; this is a new way of looking at the next generation of ID management.”

Avatier’s Identity Anywhere is based on the Docker Swarm orchestration making it a portable, scalable and secure identity management solution. The benefits of leveraging container technologies are multifold. Companies can host identity management in any cloud platform or on-premise and can as well update their identity systems using DevOps. As such, with a small command, they can manage multiple Docker instances around the globe, which eliminates the need for a multiple-tenancy offering of identity management systems. By its design, the offering puts an end to ‘dual administration’ by authenticating native directories without redundant synchronization or replication of users, passwords or groups. Docker Swarm’s massive scalability feature is yet another advantage for companies enabling them to automatically spin up identity management server instances with the increase in users and API sessions.

We are introducing Identity Management as a Container or IDaaC with our Identity Anywhere offering. This is a new way of looking at the next generation of ID management

Furthermore, containerization eliminates data co-mingling, and from a security standpoint, Avatier also adds an extra layer of encryption to the data.

Avatier has always adopted a redefined approach for each of their solution rollouts pertaining to the evolving identity management space. Back in 2000, the company was the first to introduce the refined ‘password reset’ functionality. In 2007, the team added lifecycle management with role-based technology backed by a ‘visual’ interface which at the time was a moon-shot. Avatier was already offering governance solutions way before they gained traction in the marketplace, which followed by repackaging their offering with the intuitive ‘graphical representation’ along with offering reporting and risk assessment capabilities. With a similar novelty, Avatier’s single sign-on solutions, unlike other products in the space, integrates directly with client directory. This enables users to use their group based ID (temporary or permanent) or even organizational units to gain access to appropriate applications. Companies can also tie in the cost of their other SaaS applications per user into the Avatier system to see the big picture from a single pane of glass that manifests as Avatier’s intuitive, user-friendly and visually rich dashboard. When it comes to Multi-Factor Authentication, in addition to voice, fingerprints and face recognition, Avatier can seamlessly integrate with other MFA vendors such as Google Authenticator or Symantec VIP. Avatier’s technology can be extended and easily customized in any language through well-documented REST APIs. The company thus adopts a ‘cooperate, not compete’ approach– the quintessential trait to ensure utmost security in today’s threats landscape.

Looking ahead, Avatier will soon bring out Adaptive MFA and Contextual Identity Management into their solution stack. “Apart from rendering all our solutions through containerization, we are also adding 100 more APIs this month,” concludes Cicchitto.