Courion Announces AssetLink(TM) for Extended Provisioning of Non-IT Assets

Linking Technology Enables Seamless Management of Non-IT Assets to Improve Compliance and Operational Efficiency

July 13, 2005 - Courion(R) Corporation, a leading provider of enterprise provisioning solutions, today announced AssetLink(TM), a new linking technology providing integration with asset management systems. AssetLink is an extension of Courion's AccountCourier(R) provisioning architecture that connects provisioning with asset management systems to enable extended provisioning to and the seamless management of non-IT assets to ensure transparent compliance, enable business velocity and achieve sustained efficiencies.

All companies are dependent on critical assets ranging from computers, software licenses and PDAs to work boots, security badges and office space. Though a user may be provisioned for the appropriate IT resources, often times without access to physical assets the employee is still unable to perform their job. Likewise, when an employee leaves or transfers within organization, often some assets are revoked while others remain active or in the individual's possession - raising both compliance and cost concerns. Traditionally organizations have had to rely on multiple software solutions and manual processes to meet the specific needs of provisioning both IT and non-IT assets, often causing a significant delay between the granting, changing or revoking of resources. The consequences of this lack of automation and integration can result in non-compliance, security breeches, high costs and operational inefficiencies.

With AssetLink, organizations can now seamlessly manage and provision non-IT asset data throughout users' entire life cycle, ensuring that users automatically receive access to assets appropriate to their job functions and that provisioning actions automatically update critical asset data tracked in asset management systems. With AssetLink organizations can:

-- Leverage their asset information directly from their current asset management systems. And because AssetLink integrates with Courion's ComplianceCourier(TM) solution, a workflow can be generated requiring policy owners and managers to verify through a demonstrable and repeatable process that users have an appropriate level of access to non-IT assets.

-- Automatically provision IT and non-IT assets during the new employee on-boarding process based on defined roles and update this information in asset tracking systems. For example, all employees may be entitled to a security badge, business cards and an account on Active Directory. However, based on job function an Accountant may be entitled to a desktop computer, access to financial applications and an office, whereas a Sales Executive would be entitled to a laptop computer, access to the CRM system, a cubicle, mobile phone and a PDA device. AssetLink can also reflect RFID information tied to physical resources as those assets are provisioned or deprovisioned for specific users.

-- Automatically de-provision non-IT assets when individuals leave an organization and have asset information from the asset management system immediately identify which assets need to be returned. For example, when an individual leaves an organization a workflow is generated that automatically notifies the appropriate parties what physical assets the company needs to retrieve from that individual, and what other assets need to be terminated and/or reallocated such as a phone extension, voice mail and cubicle.

-- Automatically update license information as system access is being provisioned, changed, moved or terminated. For example, if a user leaves an organization, not only will their ERP account be terminated but so too will the license for that application. As a result the company will no longer need to pay maintenance for licenses that are inactive.

-- Automatically re-provision assets for employees that are changing roles or locations within the organization. For example, if an existing employee receives a promotion and moves from a home office to the headquarters, a workflow will be generated based on his changing role perhaps moving his e-mail access to another server, allocating an office, phone, telephone number and security badge.

Courion recognizes that most enterprises have multiple, existing authoritative sources of user data. Unlike competing solutions, Courion's provisioning architecture does not force customers to create a single, centralized directory of user profiles or roles before value can be realized. To integrate seamlessly with these existing user repositories, Courion has developed its link technologies - a system of pointers that connect in real time to existing databases and directories and policies, enabling administrators to quickly build workflows and rules using the data that already exists within the enterprise. With this model customers can leverage and protect the investment they have already made in a system such as asset management. And by connecting to the authoritative data sources, these systems are highly adaptable to change, enabling business velocity and sustained efficiencies.

Courion is introducing AssetLink with an integration to MRO Software's Maximo(R) Enterprise Suite, a comprehensive suite of products that combines enhanced Enterprise Asset Management functionality with new service management, service desk, IT asset management and IT service management capabilities. Courion chose MRO Software to introduce this concept to the market due to their focus and strength on IT and non-IT asset tracking and management. Courion and MRO Software customers will benefit from the integration of their provisioning and asset management systems by improving compliance, optimizing business operations, reducing costs and closing security loopholes.

"Today enterprises are increasingly looking for a "one-stop-shop" to manage access to resources including IT accounts, physical assets, and service delivery," said Gerry Gebel, senior analyst with Burton Group. "Organizations that integrate the management of IT and non-IT assets into the same provisioning process can realize several benefits, including increased user productivity, better inventory management of physical assets, and more efficient software license administration."

"To manage the constant change in today's business environment while adhering to the bevy of industry regulations, it is critical that organizations are able to provide employees with immediate access to both IT and non-IT resources while ensuring that all access is appropriate," said Kurt Johnson, vice president of corporate development for Courion. "AssetLink enables our customers to seamlessly manage and provision their IT and non-IT assets to keep up with the rapid pace of business while simultaneously improving compliance and operational efficiency."

About Courion

Courion enables complex organizations to rapidly respond to constant change. Unlike traditional identity and access management technologies, Courion's Dynamic Community-based Provisioning empowers you to deliver transparent compliance, sustained efficiencies and improved business velocity, by effectively adapting to and leveraging your changing business operations, technology infrastructure and organization. Over 250 enterprise customers worldwide including 60 of the FORTUNE 500 utilize Courion's Enterprise Provisioning Suite(TM) to securely automate routine, manual processes for user provisioning, password management, industry and regulatory compliance, profile management, and digital certificate management. For more information, contact Courion's headquarters in Framingham, MA, USA at or visit www.courion.com.