MoD opts for SCO identity system

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has cut user enquiries and personnel time after introducing identity management software from the SCO Group.

Vintela Authentication is Unix-based but uses Active Directory on Microsoft Windows.

It is being implemented for Army and Navy service personnel around the world to provide single sign-on to Windows and Unix systems.

When the installation is complete, the software will be accessed by 1,800 army personnel and up to 6,000 total users, all linked by the MoD Restricted Lan Interconnect network.

Chris Stevens, of the Work Related Asset Management Technical Authority at the MoD, which oversees the project, told vnunet.com: "Co-ordinating Unix and Windows identities to keep them the same, including on the backups, was difficult.

"After various attempts to do it ourselves, SCO gave us the [Vintela] beta version to try last year and it took the problem away."

Users need to log onto the Unix-based Work Related Asset Management system, which also has a Windows graphical front end, and an army helicopter crew statistics system called GP9, also running on Windows.

The Vintela software allows the GP9 system to access a central database for the first time.

"Statistically, password problems represent the highest number of help desk calls, and Microsoft prescribed [Vintela] as the best solution in mixed Unix-Windows environments," said Richard Perkins, SCO's managing director for UK and Ireland.

Vintela is a Unix product but uses Active Directory accessed through Microsoft's Windows Services for Unix for storing identity information.

So far Vintela has been rolled out to five out of six Army sites: Middle Wallop, Wattisham, Netheravon, Aldergrove in Northern Ireland and Gutersloh in Germany.

Dishforth in Yorkshire is the last site, each of which uses dual Hewlett Packard DL servers running Unix with failover and a third server running Windows.

The software is also installed on the Yeovilton MoD central image server, the Army and Navy repository which is updated daily from the other sites.

Soldiers in areas such as Iraq and Afghanistan will be logging on in their watches at any time of the day or night. An installation in Basra is due next month.