IBM ships update to Tivoli Identity Manager software

IBM on Wednesday released the 5.0 version of its Tivoli Identity Manager (TIM) software, in what the company called the product’s first major update in more than 2.5 years.

TIM 5.0 is used to manage user access rights and password information. It automates new account setups, offers users the ability to reset their passwords without an assist from a help-desk employee, and monitors for unauthorized changes.

A major focus of the update is speeding up deployment. The product features a range of guidelines, wizards, and templates that can cut deployment times in half, claimed Joe Anthony, program director of identity management for Tivoli.

However, administrators who desire the most fine-grained control over user access will still have it, according to Anthony. “We did not take those capabilities away from the administrator. If in a given area they need more capabilities, it is very easy to gain access to those capabilities,” he said.

Matt Hickmott of Watson SCS, an identity- and access-management consultancy based in Tampa, Fla., was a beta tester on the 5.0 release. “I think the new functionality is very good,” he said.

IBM’s claim about reduced deployment time rings true, according to Hickmott. “It’s probably about half. A lot of the customizations you used to do are already built in,” he said.

Hickmott did single out one area of weakness, noting that the product’s self-service user interface resides on the TIM 5.0 server. “Ideally, you’d have that outside TIM so people don’t have access,” he said.

Pricing for TIM 5.0 varies depending on the number of users managed or on a per-processor basis, with prices starting at about $10,000 per company installation, a company spokesman said.