CUPERTINO, Calif. and SAN JOSE, Calif., -- Siemens Venture Capital, a subsidiary of Siemens AG, announced today a strategic investment in Oblix, a leading developer of identity-based security solutions. In addition, Oblix has signed a worldwide reseller agreement with the Siemens Information and Communications Networks (ICN) group. Under the terms of the agreement, Siemens ICN will incorporate Oblix access management technology and web-services security products into its HiPath portfolio.
This expanded relationship with Oblix is a part of the company's larger strategy to grow its security and HiPath SIcurity DirX business. In addition to providing Siemens with worldwide resale rights, Oblix and Siemens will collaborate on product integration and development. The Oblix products, which enable enterprises to create, enforce, and monitor identity and access policies across Web applications and services, will be marketed as part of Siemens' HiPath SIcurity DirX portfolio of identity & access management solutions. Siemens made an initial investment in Oblix during the company's early stages and now, as a result of increased product synergy and a growing market opportunity, is making another strategic investment in the company to support Oblix's current products and future roadmap for identity-based security solutions.
"Siemens and Oblix are strengthening their partnership to benefit both companies as well as all enterprise customers," said Mike Neuenschwander, Senior Analyst, Directory and Security Strategies Practice, Burton Group. "Siemens is bringing its expertise and reach in directories, metadirectories, and provisioning together with Oblix's industry-leading technology for delegated administration and access control to create an identity management product solution suite that will meet enterprise needs at all levels. Oblix benefits from Siemens' financial strength and global distribution channels, while Siemens adds breadth to its identity management offerings."
"With enterprise systems and users proliferating and regulatory requirements tightening, Siemens sees identity management as a strategic area of focus," said Jackie Hoffmann, Investment Partner and Head of the ICN and ICN Mustang Funds for Siemens Venture Capital. "After evaluating the market, Siemens identified Oblix as the right organization for our security portfolio. They have technical vision and market leadership in the critical and fast-growing identity-based access management market and can provide Siemens customers with the security solutions they need to adapt increasingly complex environments."
"Oblix now can leverage Siemens' brand equity and global resources to gain access to worldwide sales and service channels, particularly in Europe, where identity management is still a nascent market," said Gordon Eubanks, president and CEO, Oblix. "The combination of Siemens' global leadership in enterprise technology solutions and services with our proven, market-leading identity administration, access control and web services products will make it easier for enterprises around the world to lay this critical security foundation that restores control and visibility into rapidly expanding IT environments."
"With our HiPath SIcurity products Siemens' global enterprise security business offers a complete Identity & Access Management Portfolio built on leading edge technology. Siemens will further strengthen its position as a full-line supplier of security technology by integrating Oblix access management with Siemens' secure identity management and certified smart card technology," said Elmar Rothenwoehrer, President Siemens Division Security.
