Oracle Identity Management consists of multiple components--either acquired or created through in-house Oracle development--that together facilitate user lifecycle management both within and outside the organization; including tools providing user access controls, automated provisioning, LDAP directory management, single sign-on, and identity federation capabilities. The product suite can be used in its entirety or as individual components, per the needs of the customer.

Individual components in the Oracle Identity Management family include:

- Oracle Identity Manager, which provides automated identity provisioning capabilities, including the policy-based ability to add, update, and delete accounts from applications and directories as well as provide reporting detailing access settings.

- Oracle Access Manager, which facilitates Web single sign-on, and additionally provides capabilities including user self-service and self-registration, policy management, and delegated administration.

- Oracle Virtual Directory, which enables multiple LDAP directories or relational databases to look like a single, unified LDAP store.

- Oracle Internet Directory, an Oracle-based LDAP v3 directory.

- Oracle Identity Federation, which extends the platform's single sign-on capabilities outside the organization (to business partners and customers).

- Oracle Enteprise Single Sign-On Suite, which extends single sign-on to legacy/non-Web applications, including desktops, client-server, custom and host-based mainframe applications.

- Oracle Web Services Manager, which manages both the operations of Web services and the interactions between them.

- Oracle Management Pack for Identity Management, which enables Oracle Enterprise Manager to provide management capabilities for Oracle Access Manager, Oracle Identity Manager, and Oracle Identity Federation.

- Oracle Authentication Services for Operating Systems, which provides centralized user authentication and storage for Linux and UNIX, with, according to the vendor, "... [a] means for user authentication with zero-touch administration of the directory." This tool is based on Oracle Internet Directory, and includes tools and scripts for the configuration of Linux/UNIX Pluggable Authentication Modules and the Internet Directory for the migration, management and authentication of system users.

- Oracle Role Manager, which enables the definition and management of organizational roles (business and IT) and their privileges, with features including event-based services that can trigger rights changes to applications, XML-based service integrations, and a simulation tool that enables what-if analysis of proposed role changes.

- Oracle Entitlements Server, which was formerly known as BEA AquaLogic Enterprise Security and enables developers to incorporate a centralized, policy-based authorization mechanism into their applications (as opposed to embedding the authorization directly within the apps).

In addition to these separate offerings, the Oracle Identity and Access Management Suite combines Oracle Access Manager, Oracle Identity Manager, Oracle Identity Federation, Oracle Virtual Directory, and Oracle Internet Directory; while the Oracle Access Management Suite combines the new Oracle Entitlements Server, Oracle Adaptive Access Manager, Oracle Access Manager, and Oracle Identity Federation.

Oracle Identity Management is available now. Visit the Oracle Web site for further information.