Okta announces security layer for on-prem apps

Identity services provider Okta has today at Oktane19 announced Okta Access Gateway, a new product to enable seamless, secure, single sign-on access, management, and visibility into on-premises applications through the Okta Identity Cloud.

The new product enables organisations with hybrid IT to achieve cloud to ground resource management by bringing all of the Okta Identity Cloud values, including Single Sign-On and Adaptive Multi-factor Authentication to on-premises applications.

Many Okta customers are already using the technology behind Okta Access Gateway today, and Okta expects it to be generally available to everyone later this year.

The explosion of cloud applications has enabled companies large and small to rapidly implement new, best-of-breed technology to help their businesses, and adoption is only increasing.

According to Okta's Digital Enterprise Report — a survey of 1,050 technology decision makers at organisations with $1 billion in revenue or greater — two-thirds of respondents expect to deploy more cloud apps in the coming year.

However, for many organisations, the present and the future will be hybrid, with mission-critical applications residing both on-premises and across multi-cloud environments.

The Digital Enterprise Report also revealed that a majority of large companies plan to still have at least one-third of their applications running on-premises.

But in a post-perimeter, hybrid world, many enterprises struggle to centrally manage identity and access management (IAM) for both cloud and on-premises environments, resulting in often unwieldy, complex solutions that curb efficiency and security.

Okta Access Gateway solves the hybrid IT access problem for enterprises, connecting on-premises applications from legacy vendors like Oracle, IBM, and SAP, along with custom-built on-premises applications to the Okta Identity Cloud.

Using a flexible deployment model that gives enterprises the choice between deploying a proxy on-premises or through multiple IaaS vendors including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure, Okta Access Gateway delivers a simple solution to modern, hybrid identity and access management.

Through the Okta Identity Cloud, enterprises can manage and secure access to their applications from a single, independent source without any vendor constraints or lock-in, leveraging Okta technology relied on by 6,100 Okta customers.

"Okta believes in enabling every organisation to connect to the technology it needs, regardless of where that technology sits," says Okta chief executive officer and co-founder Todd McKinnon.

"With the Okta Access Gateway, we're able to take a major step forward in providing enterprises a more seamless experience managing their hybrid IT, providing secure access and visibility — all through the Okta Identity Cloud.

"Hitachi has a rich history of innovation, and we constantly strive to provide the best technology to our employees," says Hitachi Americas and EMEA Chief Information Officer Ashish Sanghrajka.

"That means integrating cloud technologies with our already-existent application infrastructure, which presented immense complexity across our global business units.

"Okta Access Gateway was the right technology for us to transform our legacy authentication infrastructure without disrupting the legacy systems.