Imprivata Inc., Lexington, Mass., an enterprise authentication and access management appliance company, announced a product that converges both physical and logical security in one package. Imprivata OneSign Physical/Logical, enables organizations to achieve location-based authentication by linking an employee’s physical access authentication event to network and application access. Integrating these two typically distinct security activities enables companies to create a single integrated security policy for each employee, from physical building, zone or room access straight through to networks and applications, without replacing an entire physical access control system.

“We got the idea from our customers. They kept coming to us and saying, ‘We already have a physical access system and card system for our employees. Why can’t we leverage this technology, without rebadging everybody or changing our readers?’” explained Omar Hussein, president and CEO of Imprivata. Unlike some other convergence products, the Imprivata product works on the system level, Hussein said, allowing customers to keep their existing physical and logical security infrastructures in place, while residing over the systems and combining identities and information from both physical and logical access.

For example, if an employee badges into a building, the OneSign Physical/Logical product knows that the employee is in the building. Once badged in, the employee is then allowed onto the network. This helps prevent a concern of many physical security integrators — tailgating. If an employee has not badged in for the day, he is not allowed onto the network or a warning is flagged in the system. The product allows organizations to grant or refuse network access based on a user’s physical location, organizational role or employee status.

“We feel way ahead of the game, since we are working with convergence from the backend at the system level. We have simplified the convergence so that either side [physical or IT security people] can get what they need from the other side without having to modify or change anything. Our product doesn’t require you to reengineer your existing infrastructure,” said Hussein. For physical security integrators working in the network security space, such a product is very appealing. Integrators can offer customers an extra level of authentication security, without a large reinvestment of card readers or access systems.

Imprivata’s offering maps user credentials from disparate network, remote access, application and physical access accounts, and provides a single point for administrators to instantly lock-out user access across both physical and logical assets — such as when an employee is terminated.

Currently, the OneSign Physical/Logical product has built-in support for Lenel, S2 Security and Tyco Software House systems. In future releases, Imprivata will continue to expand its compatibility.

With its price point, Imprivata wants to target both small and large corporate organizations and integrators serving those markets. “Cost is the real driver here. People have an opportunity to leverage two security systems for better overall security and this is a simple cost-effective way to do that,” Hussein added. For more information, visit www.imprivata.com.