Frost & Sullivan Honors IBM for Leading the Global Identity and Access Management Market
By understanding and adapting to changing technology and risk landscape, IBM meets customers need for advanced security analytics
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — July 16, 2015 — Based on its recent analysis of the identity and access management (IAM) industry, Frost & Sullivan recognizes IBM with the 2015 Global Frost & Sullivan Award for Market Leadership for excellence in capturing the highest market revenue share within its industry. Frost & Sullivan sees IBM as the established leader in the IAM market that is poised to lead the market into the next phase of growth.
In 2014, IBM was named the fastest growing vendor in the worldwide IAM market, bolstered by the high rates of sales and renewals of its current IAM offerings. Despite strong competition, IBM has retained market leadership by continually investing in its existing IAM portfolio while also developing new cloud-based IAM services and advanced security analytics that leverage identity data to understand and manage security risks.
IBM offers a full suite of integrated, threat-aware security software and services that protect and manage a user’s identity and access management across the extended enterprise, including mobile and cloud environments. These offerings include:
- Identity Governance and Intelligence
- Identity Lifecycle Management
- Privileged Identity Control
- Adaptive Access Control and Federation
- Application Content Protection
- Authentication and Single-Sign On
- Directory Services
“IBM’s IAM solutions score high on performance and reliability, as evidenced by its continued deployment in large business and enterprise networks around the globe, as well of thousands of small- and mid-sized firms,” said Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Chris Rodriguez. “IBM has expanded its deployment options, offering its IAM solutions as cost-effective virtual and hardware appliances, or as a managed cloud service.”
Building on its established leadership in the IAM market, IBM continues to identify emerging trends and new market segments for growth. In 2014, the company made strategic acquisitions to further strengthen its IAM portfolio, including Lighthouse Security Group and CrossIdeas.
The acquisition of Lighthouse Security Group provides IBM with the foundation to deliver a cloud-based service for IAM. Although the company’s competitors also offer cloud-based IAM services, IBM stands out for presenting an integrated, end-to-end solution for managing identities and access rights across on-premise and cloud-based applications.
The acquisition of CrossIdeas further showcases IBM’s investment in IAM technologies, providing business-driven identity governance capabilities that help strengthen compliance, simplify IT audits and reduce risk.
Furthermore, the company continues to invest in developing new technologies that solve customers’ security problems. For example, IBM’s Threat-Aware approach to Identity and Access Management allows IBM clients to discover potential security breaches and suspicious user activity and block threats.
“IBM enables the simplified deployment of its IAM products with virtual appliance formats and by supporting heterogeneous network environments and third-party systems such as Microsoft, SAP, and Oracle,” observed Rodriguez. “As a large organization with a dedicated professional services division, IBM has the product development teams and support services needed to address customer needs and processes that will offer customers a successful deployment.”
As one of the first companies to offer IAM products, IBM has a strong history in the security market and a well-established reputation. It also supports the largest customer base, much of which is planning to update its security and IAM processes to strengthen compliance and thwart malicious attacks. For customers that are considering implementing IAM solutions, IBM is often the vendor of choice.
Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.
