Integrates SUSE Linux Desktop with Microsoft Networks
BELLEVUE, Wash., May 19, 2009 – Likewise announced today that its Likewise Enterprise offering will ship as part of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 from Novell.
Likewise Enterprise securely connects computers running SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 with Microsoft Active Directory — making it easy to authenticate users, control access to applications and data, centrally manage settings with group policies and create reports for regulatory audits.
“Likewise is seeing acceleration in the number of our Linux desktop projects,” said Barry Crist, CEO of Likewise. “Novell is a natural partner for us as it has been a pioneer in the area of Linux desktops with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. The company clearly understands the widespread demand to offer better integration into Active Directory environments.”
The group policies in Likewise Enterprise let system administrators manage the security settings of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop computers and users from a central system. Likewise Enterprise also includes GNOME group policies to control SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop user and computer settings — policies that are based on the GNOME GConf project to define preferences like the default web browser or when to lock down a desktop.
“Likewise helps us meet the requirements that our customers demand; the need for advanced Active Directory integration including support for AD security settings and group policy,” said Guy Lunardi, director for Client Preloads at Novell. “SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 is the most interoperable Linux desktop in the industry and in combination with Likewise Enterprise offers a highly-scalable enterprise solution for large Linux desktop deployments.”
Under the terms of the agreement between Likewise and Novell, all Novell customers who buy SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 will get Likewise Enterprise, and it will be part of the SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop software repositories.
“Many organizations are integrating their Linux systems into Active Directory because of the centralized identity and policy management capabilities, with the added benefits of enhanced authentication and sign-on reduction,” noted Mark Diodati, senior identity and security analyst at Burton Group. “The embedding of the Active Directory component into the Linux operating system should simplify enterprise deployments.”
Likewise Enterprise addresses the authentication, auditing, and reporting needs of companies running multiple operating systems in their network. Likewise Enterprise is a simple upgrade for customers who have installed Likewise Open and want to use group policies to manage their mixed environment and use the auditing features of Likewise Enterprise to view access reports. The auditing features help companies comply with regulatory requirements, such as those of Sarbanes-Oxley.
About Likewise
Likewise provides identity management solutions that improve security, enhance operational efficiency, and help achieve regulatory compliance in mixed networks. Likewise Open lets large organizations securely authenticate Linux, Unix, and Mac systems with Active Directory, a popular and proven unified directory system. Likewise Enterprise includes all the core authentication technology that comes with Likewise Open, plus world-class modules for access control, migration, group policy, auditing, and reporting. For more information, visit http://www.likewise.com/.
Likewise is a trademark of Likewise Software. All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.
