Sun Microsystems Inc. this week will boost the capabilities of its Sun Open Net Environment (ONE) Portal Server 6.0 technology with new secure remote access functionality.
The Secure Remote Access 6 product will allow users to securely access applications and services hosted on Sun ONE portals from any remote client using standard browsers, according to Sun.
Sun’s portal server software comes with integrated identity management functions aimed at enabling access control, policy management and single sign-on. This week’s announcement “is about enabling an enterprise to give an extranet or remote access capabilities to either an employee or business partner,” said Adam Abramski, a Sun product manager.
Remote users can access the portal services via a browser, and user authentication and access control functions are handled over an encrypted channel between the remote client and the Sun ONE identity management server.
All communications between client and portal are protected using standard cryptographic algorithms such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Triple Data Encryption Standard (DES), according to Abramski.
It’s this “[virtual private network]-on-demand capability” that makes the Sun ONE Portal Server’s remote access support appealing, said Gary Horn, manager of network services at Advocate Health Care in Oak Brook, Ill.
Advocate is using the portal technology to deliver patient care and other content to physicians and its associate organizations. Previously, such users would have to use dial-up connections to log into Advocate’s servers to get the data.