Novell Drives New Government Focus with Identity Management and Open Source Offerings

Expanding on its already strong global presence in the public sector, Novell unveiled today new initiatives to help governments at all levels leverage Novell’s leading identity and open source solutions to improve cost efficiency and drive greater effectiveness of government‘s interactions with its stakeholders. Novell® Government Solutions help public sector organizations secure and integrate the information that flows through government systems and deliver the right information to the right people, while providing flexibility of choice, including open source technologies. New offerings from Novell Government Solutions include a policy-based Citizen Portal and Linux* migration strategies, tools and services. Novell Government Solutions combine industry-leading technology and services with sector-specific expertise to provide governments with flexible, open and secure identity-driven solutions.

“Governments face considerable public pressure to improve cost efficiency and effectiveness of government operations,” said Joe Forgione, vice president of solutions at Novell. “However, as more people become Web savvy, governments face new demands, with citizens, business constituents, employees, suppliers and other government agencies wanting immediate, personalized access to information and services. Governments need the agility to serve today’s demanding constituents and empower employees to make timely, informed decisions. Novell Government Solutions can help them build open, secure and effective government.”

Novell has deep experience delivering core platform and collaboration technology for the public sector worldwide. Its move to now deliver identity-driven and open source solutions for government has been well received. The State of Michigan recently tapped Novell for a secure portal solution for its state police force, and Novell signed a SmartBUY agreement in July with the U.S. Federal Government that makes it easier for federal agencies to purchase and deploy Novell solutions, including identity management and Linux offerings. Similar bundles of Novell products that provide government customers with flexibility in deployment and pricing, as well as simplified contract negotiation and licensing processes, are available in Europe and Australia. In Australia, Novell was selected by the Victoria state government to power its Rosetta initiative, a project to provide provisioning and identity management services for the government. In Europe, the City of Stockholm is leveraging its Novell Web portal infrastructure to build a functionally rich and flexible portal for students and teachers in support of better education.

"Governments face challenges of security and scale that few other organizations face. They have more users and are privy to more sensitive information than any other type of organization," said John Goggin, senior vice president and director for government strategies at META Group, a leading provider of IT research, advisory services and strategic consulting. "At the same time, they are under constant cost constraints, with "doing more with less" a recurring way of life. Many government organizations are looking to identity-driven solutions for process improvements and open source for resource savings that can be applied to critical programs that are currently underfunded."

With a new cross-functional team developing, promoting, and delivering Novell Government Solutions to market, Novell is uniquely positioned to help governments realize improvements by addressing the key challenges they face. Novell Government Solutions offer:

• A secure identity management platform that supports people, processes, applications and devices, allowing governments powerful ways to keep citizen information secure and protect and deliver government information and resources according to policy.
• Comprehensive and integrated functionality across four major categories of solution building blocks: government portals, data and application integration, secure infrastructure and core foundation technologies.
• The flexibility to choose open source technology, including enterprise-class Linux at both the server and the desktop level, plus a current high level of security – the Common Criteria EAL3+ designation – with all the components in place for obtaining next-level EAL4 certification in the near future.

To complement its existing offerings, Novell is developing customized solutions for government, with an initial focus on three areas: always-on citizen access, Linux migration, and collaborative law enforcement and security. The first new offering is a Policy-based Citizen Portal that helps local governments reduce the cost of serving high-transaction volume citizens, such as new residents, providing a one-stop shop for citizens to securely obtain a variety of government services. Novell is also launching a Linux Migration Strategy and Services offering, giving governments the tools to determine the optimal path for moving to Linux, identifying the most efficient way to gain the cost, performance and stability benefits of open source. Additional solutions in the collaborative law enforcement and security arena will be forthcoming.