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New Password Management Software from Critical Path Cuts Helpdesk Costs and Boosts Enterprise Security
Tuesday July 8, 4:31 pm ET

Centrally Administers and Synchronizes Passwords Across Applications and Systems, Provides Reusable Architecture for Multiple Identity Management Solutions

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 8, 2003-- Critical Path, Inc. (Nasdaq: CPTH - News), a global leader in identity management and messaging software and services, today announced the Critical Path(TM) Password Management solution for centrally administering passwords across systems and applications. The software brings together in one package technology and expertise developed by the company through years of delivering turnkey solutions for managing passwords and other identity information. This new integrated offering from Critical Path provides self-service resets of forgotten passwords, centralized definition and enforcement of password policies, dynamic password synchronization across systems for reduced sign-on, and auditing of all password changes activities. With this software, enterprises, government agencies, and other organizations can quickly slash helpdesk costs, improve security, and boost user productivity with a proven architecture that can be used to address a wide variety of security and identity management needs.

"Enterprise users are having to deal with an ever-growing number of passwords, placing huge drains on helpdesk staffs and budgets," said Mike Neuenschwander, Senior Analyst at the Burton Group. "Organizations that are looking to cut operational costs today should look for password management solutions that address these immediate needs while also providing an architecture that can be part of a broader identity management strategy."

Critical Path's Password Management solution enables passwords for a wide variety of user applications, databases and operating systems to be centrally administered. Users can set their own passwords via an easy-to-use web-based interface or through existing systems such as Microsoft Windows or IBM RACF. The Critical Path software even provides self-service resets of forgotten passwords, enabling users to restore access to key resources securely, 24x7, without assistance from IT staff. Passwords are checked against configurable security policies, and if acceptable, are automatically distributed to each affected system, application, database and directory. Automating such error-prone, labor-intensive tasks frees up IT personnel for more skilled activities and can significantly reduce the number of calls made to helpdesks (which can cost as much as $30 per call and $250-300 per year per user, according to industry estimates).

Reusable Architecture For Multiple Solutions

Unlike point product approaches that require separate custom infrastructure for each type of identity management solution, Critical Path's Password Management provides an easy-to-deploy, reusable architecture that integrates with many different business systems. This enables organizations -- from small businesses to large, multinational enterprises -- to put in place a foundation for addressing many additional security and communications initiatives. Critical Path's customers already use this same infrastructure for data integration, whitepages, single sign-on and personalization for portal applications, provisioning and many other solutions.

"Critical Path has a long, proven track record of successfully delivering identity management solutions in even the most complex IT environments, including two Fortune 5 companies," said Bernard Harguindeguy, executive vice president and general manager of Critical Path's identity management business unit. "Our comprehensive Password Management solution makes it even easier for organizations of all sizes to quickly begin saving money while also improving the level of service and security they provide to their users."
Improves Security via Centralized Enforcement, Reduced Sign-On and
Auditing


Password changes are checked against a customizable set of policies. Those that pass the security tests are dynamically distributed to all appropriate applications, systems, or databases. In contrast to batch-oriented approaches, such rapid synchronization improves security by reducing windows of vulnerability and enabling "reduced sign-on" -- the use of a single, more secure password. Having one password in place of many makes the password less likely to be compromised and reduces the amount of time users spend having to determine which password is needed for each application or system.

The Critical Path software gives organizations centralized control over such aspects as expiration date, length and character requirements, types of words to prohibit, and whether or not forgotten passwords may be reset. In addition, all attempts to set or reset passwords, successful as well as failed, are logged for easy auditing and reporting.

The new software is expected to be available this quarter. More information about Critical Path's Password Management as well as the company's other identity management solutions is available at the company's web site http://www.criticalpath.net/.

About Critical Path, Inc.

Critical Path, Inc. (Nasdaq: CPTH - News) is a global leader in digital communications software and services. The company provides messaging solutions -- from wireless, secure and unified messaging to basic email and personal information management -- as well as identity management solutions that simplify user profile management and strengthen information security. The standards-based Critical Path Communications Platform, built to perform reliably at the scale of public networks, delivers the industry's lowest total cost of ownership for messaging solutions and lays a solid foundation for next-generation communications services. Solutions are available on a hosted or licensed basis. Critical Path's customers include more than 700 enterprises, 200 carriers and service providers, eight national postal authorities and 35 government agencies. Critical Path is headquartered in San Francisco. More information can be found at www.criticalpath.net.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030708/85806_1.html