Simplifying the way in which enterprises secure and integrate their users’ identities and data
Ping Identity’s dedication to delivering secure Internet single sign-on software and services for over 150 customers worldwide has earned us recognition as the market leader in federated identity management. Ping Identity was founded in 2002 by industry veterans committed to simplifying the way in which digital identities are used and managed. The flagship product, PingFederate®, is the world’s first rapidly deployable identity federation software, providing an organization’s users safe access to Internet applications without the need to re-login.
Name: Andre Durand Age: 40 Position: CEO, founder Previous jobs: Prior to Ping Identity, Mr. Durand founded Jabber, Inc., a leading global provider of in instant messaging and presence management platforms serving both the carrier and enterprise markets. While at Jabber, he supported the incubation of the Jabber Software Foundation, a non-profit setup to facilitate growth of the Jabber Open Source project, where he served as chairman for 18 months, helping to drive adoption of Jabber's innovative hybrid open source and commercialization strategy. Mr. Durand’s entrepreneurial spirit appeared early in his career. Mr. Durand founded Durand Communications, a provider of client/server solutions for online databases and applications, where served as CEO for five years before selling the company to Webb Interactive in 1998 for $10 million Education: Mr. Durand holds a BA degree in Biology and Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Presentations: Catalyst 2007, DIDW 2007, Keynote @ OASIS ID TRUST/Catalyst Europe 2007, 1st European Identity Conference, SaaSCon. Family: Married, 2 daughters, Parker and Samantha Residence: Denver, Colorado Other interests: surfing, photography, boarding, and buying needless items on Woot Favorite Charity: St. Judes Children’s Research Hospital
In the following interview, Andre Durand, CEO and Founder, Ping Identity discusses 1:1 with Rake Narang, Editor-n-chief of Info Security Products Guide, continued threats and advances made in identity security.
Rake Narang, Editor-n-Chief - Info Security Products Guide: How have the digital identity technologies changed over the years? Is the Internet safer today than a few years back? Andre Durand, CEO and Founder, Ping Identity: Internet identity continues to change directions dramatically. Although Internet crime has not changed from the past - only grown in intensity as criminals are becoming more sophisticated - it still continues to be one of the major drivers behind digital identity technology. As well as master data management, this continues to be a concern as the complexity of data management grows due to users having so many different identities on the Web. Other more major strategic themes that will drive Internet Identity in the enterprise, and are relatively new, include collaboration & Enterprise 2.0, virtualization & cloud computing, and SaaS & On Demand applications.
But with so many more drivers, especially in the enterprise and their desire to protect their users’ identities and data, vendors are stepping up to deliver more secure applications.
Originally it was the land of the major stack vendors like IBM, HP, CA and Sun to provide massive solutions that many organizations could not afford – they were left exposed or tried to develop identity security systems that criminals quickly punched holes in. Until the emergence of standards like SAML, they had little choice. Now, vendors like PingFederate and others in the identity management space are stepping up to deliver solutions that fit specific needs of the enterprise, like single sign-on that works over the Internet. These are solutions that they can afford and fix their specific identity problems. This is a time when everyone can have and afford identity security, not just the Fortune 1000.
"Threats over the Internet have become not only more criminal in nature but also highly sophisticated. On the other hand enterprises are deploying more and more applications that take advantage of the flexibility and reach of the Internet. Ping Identity helps fill a major requirement at times like these by providing identity management solutions that simplify and protect identities and data that needs to be secured."
Rake Narang, Editor-n-Chief, Info Security Products Guide
Rake Narang: What are the latest products and services provided by Ping Identity? How are Ping Identity solutions different from others?
Andre Durand: Our flagship product, PingFederate®, is the only rapidly deployable identity federation software for allowing an organization’s users safe access to Internet applications without the need to re-login. Identity federation deployments that used to take over six months now take days with PingFederate. Ping Identity delivers secure Internet single sign-on software for over 200 Fortune 1000 enterprises. As a result, we've earned the reputation and recognition as the market leader in federated identity management. We were founded in 2002 to simplify the way in which enterprises secure and integrate their users’ identities and data in a growing number of interactions with SaaS providers, partners and suppliers. Ping Identity is unique in that our customers typically have secure Internet SSO within 30 days with PingFederate and PingEnable – our world class support, services and methodologies. Many of our 200 customers achieve this level of success due to our ability to easily work within their existing environments, without any custom development, simple configuration of partner connections, and multi-protocol support.
Rake Narang: Tell us more about the Sxip Access acquisition and how this will help the Ping Identity customers?
Andre Durand: The acquisition positions Ping Identity as the undisputed leader in secure Internet SSO, bolstering Ping’s installed base and market share. With nearly 200 enterprise customers and staff distributed across the US, Europe, and now Canada, Ping Identity can solidify its market presence in the SaaS space, which Gartner estimates will grow at double the rate of the total enterprise application market though 2011.
With the addition of Sxip Access capabilities to PingFederate, we’ll be able to deliver to SaaS customers a comprehensive, secure, and easy-to-use federated identity solution that enables deployment in days rather than the months required with IdM suite vendor products. The collective technologies and additional talent also will allow us to deliver new features on our product roadmap at a significantly faster rate.
Building on PingFederate’s standards-based SAML technology, the additional benefits of the two solutions combined strengthen Ping’s ability to meet all of the enterprise’s secure Internet SSO needs. Based on customer feedback, Ping Identity will leverage Sxip Access’ unique features for SaaS such as batch provisioning, Rich Client support for Salesforce desktop plugins, and deep linking.
All About Ping Identity Head Office Address: 1099 18th Street, suite 2950, Denver, CO 80202 Founded in: 2002 CEO: Andre Durand Public or Private: Private Investors: Ping Identity is venture funded by Appian Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, General Catalyst Partners, Fidelity Ventures, SAP Ventures and I-Vent. Number of Employees: 76 Products: PingFederate Company’s Goals: Ping Identity’s sole focus is to remain the market leader in federated identity management. Recent Awards Won: Software 2008
