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What the Press Says About Centrify

Excerpts from journalists, analysts, customers and industry observers

Here's what industry publications and analysts have to say about Centrify. Also check our Customer Success Stories for a sampling of what our customers say about the value of our solutions.

11/03/2006
Industry Reactions Mixed About Novell/Microsoft
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, eWeek
Tom Kemp, CEO of Centrify, a company that specializes in products that link Unix, Linux, Mac, J2EE (Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition) and Web platforms with Microsoft Active Directory, watched the Novell/Microsoft announcement with special interest.   [Kemp said the announcement] 'throws a serious light on interoperability, and [draws] a lot of attention to that topic which will benefit a vendor such as us who does interoperability for many platforms beyond SUSE.   Microsoft will now have dedicated solutions reps focusing on [interoperability]   [O]nce Microsoft starts talking about interoperability with customers, customers will have more than just SUSE, and it will lead naturally to the question of what vendor can address interoperability beyond AD, and that leads to us.'
10/01/2006
Centrify DirectControl 4-Star Review: An extremely useful tool for administering access control within mixed environments
Julian Ashbourn, SC Magazine, UK
The local machine effectively becomes an Active Directory client, regardless of the operating system platform. Implementing this model is fast and easy once the central management tools are in place and consists primarily of installing the local agents and thinking about how such access permissions might usefully be grouped. This latter issue is addressed by the concept of DirectControl Zones, which allows the administrator to configure logical groupings across platforms, organized by department, role or whatever best fits the organisation.   the access-control integration across Windows and other environments alone is reason enough to take a serious look at this product.   [W]ith the provision of a logical and intuitive administrator console and integral reporting facilities, a wealth of information is readily available around access permissions and zones, ensuring that you are always up to date with the access control position within your organiztion.
09/26/2006
Centrify consolidates authentication
macnn
The company's Centrify DirectControl allows organizations using Microsoft Active Directory to centrally manage user authentication across a wide range of heterogeneous systems and Web-based applications while also controlling access to popular databases and packaged applications such as Oracle and SAP. Users gain single sign-on to all key systems, applications, and databases they require access to, regardless of the organization's underlying IT infrastructure.
09/06/2006
Centrify delivers effective directory integration
Peter Giannacopoulos, SearchSecurity.com
The client installation consists of standard gzipped .tar files containing a nifty install shell script and the appropriate installation binaries. The install script does a great job of prompting the user for the necessary information (domain name, etc.), which it uses to configure Kerberos, LDAP, PAM and application server (Apache, Tomcat, JBoss, WebLogic, etc.) authentication. Platform support is excellent: AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, Red Hat, Debian, SUSE, Mac OS X and VMware ESX.   Centrify has done an admirable job of getting AD-based SSO to work on a variety of platforms, extending the GPO paradigm to the most popular *nix platforms.   Centrify's DirectControl Suite gives organizations the benefits of SSO and centralized policy management for Windows and *nix platforms with minimal hassle and good results.
08/23/2006
Making Linux and Windows network management easy
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, Linux-Watch
Since I first looked at [DirectControl] in late-beta, I've used it myself, and I have to say I like it. I run a small LAN of twenty PCs and five servers. On it, I have half-a-dozen different Linux desktops, along with Vista, Windows XP, and Media Center PCs. For servers, I have SLES (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server) 10; RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) 4; Windows 2000; and Windows Server 2003. It’s quite a mix, and to run it all, I have to say that Centrify is my favorite AD-based management suite.   So, if you’re going to be running Windows and Linux on your LAN, and most of you probably will be, soon, if you’re not already, and you live and die by AD management, I’d say give Centrify a try.
08/01/2006
A Two-Time Winner (sidebar to main article, The Sky's The Limit as a Microsoft Supplier)
Redmond Channel Partner Online
In his current job as president and CEO of Centrify Corp., a Windows/Linux integration and security firm in Mountain View, Calif., [Tom] Kemp managed to sell his DirectControl software into Redmond's massive Windows/Linux/Unix interoperability testing lab.   “It's huge to have [Microsoft] as a customer,” Kemp notes. “It validates your solution and technology. Microsoft has very high standards.”
06/21/2006
Centrify Enables Active Directory-Based Authentication for Macs
Network World
The latest version of Centrify's DirectControl suite enables Active Directory-based authentication and access control for Mac systems and is the first and only product that enables IT managers to centrally secure and configure Mac systems through Active Directory Group Policy. You get to strengthen security by establishing a single point of administration — Active Directory. And end users gain single sign-on to their Macs through their Active Directory account. Sounds like a win-win situation.   If you have Macs on your network, or if you've been scrambling to resist their entry into your network, you need to look closely at the new version of DirectControl. It's not often you can both improve security while improving ease of use for some users, but this product will let you do just that.
06/12/2006
DirectControl adds Macs to MS Group Policy control
Peter Cohen, MacWorld
  DirectControl   enables IT managers working with Microsoft Group Policy to manage Macs alongside Windows PCs. Microsoft Group Policy provides a way for IT managers to centralize various aspects of workstation configuration and setup using Microsoft Active Directory technology. Using DirectControl, IT managers can configure Group Policy Objects (GPOs), which can include password locks on screensavers, firewall settings, system preferences, energy saver functions, Internet sharing settings and more.
06/07/2006
Centrify extends Microsoft Group Policy to Mac OS X
Macsimum News
With the new DirectControl, IT professionals can now use the same desktop lockdown and configuration management tools that they use for their Windows environment to improve security and to centrally set policy and perform bulk configuration of Mac OS X systems. Centrify has also announced that Centrify DirectControl now supports Mac OS X on Intel-based systems, in addition to its current support for Mac OS X on PowerPC.
06/07/2006
Microsoft Group Policy for Mac OS X
macnn
DirectControl's Mac OS X group policies help IT managers increase desktop security by enforcing password locks on screensavers, setting and managing firewall settings, locking down system preferences, controlling energy-saver functions, controlling Internet sharing settings, and providing a range of other management functions.
05/29/2006
SSH, Centrify Secure Heterogeneous Environments
Grid Today
Centrify DirectControl allows an administrator to leverage Kerberos and Active Directory for single sign-on on non-Microsoft platforms. SSH Tectia, with its broadest platform support of any Secure Shell solution on the market today, enables enterprises to implement secure encrypted file transfer, system administration and application connectivity throughout heterogeneous environments. Together, SSH Tectia and DirectControl will help IT managers deliver seamless and secure cross-platform communications for both internal and external users, easing the burden placed on valuable IT resources.
05/22/2006
Centrify unlocks more value from Active Directory
Linda Musthaler, Network World
Looking to expand your world of trust beyond corporate boundaries to business partners? Perhaps the Centrify ADFS extensions are just what you need. Microsoft ADFS lets users share authentication data across corporate boundaries. DirectControl 3 extends ADFS to intranet and extranet applications running on Apache and J2EE application servers. In addition to this federated identity solution, DirectControl 3 delivers integrated Kerberos/LDAP-based authentication for the same platforms. This yields a secure single-sign on for Web applications.
05/11/2006
Managing AD users getting easier -- once you figure out who they are
Kevin Ferguson, SearchWinIT.com
About 50 of the Macs in question are deployed internationally, including Bangkok, Thailand. "With Centrify, we'll know who logs in and be able to protect resources accordingly," said [Habitat for Humanity CIO Jim] Thie. "Secondly, we wanted something that integrated easily into the Active Directory structure. And thirdly, we wanted something that was easy to deploy. I would say we're achieving all three of those with Centrify."
04/21/2006
Enterprise Solutions Architecture Framework
Line56, The E-Business Executive Daily
It is good idea to consider one of LDAP Services such as Active Directory   that provide better security on identity management that can be deployed in common services pool and integrate with the applications. Some vendors such as Centrify are helping to provide to connect such directory services to applications from Apache, WebSphere, Jboss, Tomcat etc.
04/13/2006
Managing Linux users the Active Directory way
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, Linux-Watch
So you want to manage Linux users, but your system administrators are lost without Microsoft's Active Directory? Centrify Corp. has an answer: Centrify DirectControl Suite 3.   [Centrify CEO Tom] Kemp said that by extending ADFS to web-based applications running on non-Microsoft web platforms, you can use it to manage Apache and J2EE application servers without having to deploy any additional federated identity software. By default, ADFS enables distributed IIS (Internet Information Services) application identification, authentication, and authorization across extranets. The result is that Centrify can deliver web-based SSO on both intranets (for internal users) and extranets (for customers and business partners) for a minimal upfront investment.
04/13/2006
Extend Active Directory Identity and Access Controls
Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Journal
DirectControl 3 provides seamless integration with UNIX- and Linux-based open-source infrastructure applications such as Samba and OpenSSH. In addition, with deeper support for 64-bit systems and support for the Windows Server 2003 R2 UNIX schema, DirectControl 3 leads the industry in support for UNIX, Linux and Mac systems.
04/06/2006
Dual-Boot Nirvana
Doug Barney, Redmondmag.com
Two-year-old Centrify is already on the third version of its flagship Active Directory (AD) integration product. DirectControl 3 lets AD take the lead in authentication, regardless of whether you're running Windows, Mac or any of dozens of versions of Linux and Unix. The company, backed with some $20 million in investment and staffed with more engineers than anything else, is also working to tie AD with a range of non-Microsoft apps.
03/31/2006
A Look Inside Microsoft's Open Source Software Lab
Port 25
"The combination of Active Directory and Centrify DirectControl gives us a really powerful single authentication solution across a highly mixed environment.   we've had good success with this solution," says [Bill] Hilf. [General Manager of Platform Strategy at Microsoft]
03/30/2006
Despite Growth, Apple Falls Short on Enterprise Traction
John Rizzo, eWeek
"What Apple provides is good, but not good enough for the enterprise," said Tom Kemp, CEO of Centrify, a Mountain View, Calif., company that makes Active Directory integration tools for Mac and Linux clients. "If the Mac is going to succeed in enterprise, it has to plug in easily into the existing infrastructure."
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While all the above features make DirectControl for Mac a tempting solution, the fact that it includes a range of group policies that can be used to secure and manage the Mac OS X environment is what makes it an excellent solution. DirectControl for Mac uses group policies that integrate with the client-side components of Apple's managed preference environment. ... Having had the opportunity to work with both the existing set of group policies and to see a preview version of the upcoming expanded set, I was amazed at Centrify's success. The experience of managing Macs was exactly the same as managing Windows computers using group policies. Any experienced Active Directory administrators, even those who have no Mac support experience, will feel completely at home. Any experienced Mac administrator will also notice that Centrify has managed to mirror the preference management component of Mac OS X Server's Workgroup Manager.

Ryan Faas
ComputerWorld
March 29, 2007