GE Security Converges Access Control with Sun Microsystems

GE Security announced on Wednesday afternoon that it has formed an OEM relationship with Sun Microsystems for access control. The relationship will allow GE Security to integrate Sun's JAVA System Identity Management Suite into its access control solutions, allowing customers a merged network and physical access control solution.

The converged platform is especially designed for enterprise-level businesses and government facilities. The platform, GE's announcement said, will meet SOX and HSPD-12 requirements as well.

The concept of unified access started to appear in recent years, at first as many companies introduced a one-card initiative. Nonetheless, that one access control card (to open the building's doors and to access the network) often still interfaces with two systems behind the scene -- one database management system for IT network access control, and one physical security access control software system and database running on a separate server.

GE Security's goal, via the relationship it has created with Sun Microsystems, is such that both access systems can share the same server and operating system.

Dan Smytka, president of Engineered Systems with GE Security indicated that the converged solution had already been deployed at General Electric itself.

“We know the power that Sun’s Identity Management suite delivers," said Smytka, "because we have deployed it to more than 450,000 users across 11 GE business units."