Today’s workplace environment is fast paced, and so are the resources that employees are leveraging to get work done. With Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) apps based in the cloud, a heterogeneous hodge podge of operating systems, wireless networks, and more, IT admins must be constantly on their toes. After all, fast-paced work environments need fast-paced identity management. IT admins need an agile directory service to keep up with that pace.
IT as it Was
Naturally, one may think that IT technologies should advance at the same rate, so IT admins must already be using an agile directory, right? Well, in order to understand the state of IT now, we must follow its evolution. Flashback to the early 2000s. Y2K has blown over, the former governor of Texas is now President, and Blockbuster is still booming. In the workplace, the cubicle is still en vogue and Microsoft® Active Directory® (AD) is an IT admin’s bread-and-butter when it comes to authenticating access to IT resources.
Those days, however, were homogeneous, Windows®-centric, and deeply rooted on-prem. It only made sense to rely on a directory service that was specifically designed for the environment at hand. Compared to today’s workplace, the cube farm of yon was practically laid back, complete with cacophonous dial-up tones and fax machines.
IT Today
Such an approach is far too slow for the modern, cloud-forward era. SaaS applications, Mac® and Linux® devices, cloud servers and infrastructure. The list of IT innovations grows, heaping more and more on the admin’s identity management plate.
Despite this meteoric rise to the cloud, several key facets of IT remained grounded on-prem. First and foremost of these facets was the directory service. AD is still the most widely-used on-prem directory service on the market, but it is no longer the sole player in an organization’s identity management strategy. Since it was designed for the IT shop of the early 2000s, AD struggles to authenticate to cloud-based resources or other systems like Mac®or Linux®. Due to this inability, enterprises leveraging Active Directory today also require the help of a host of add-on solutions, including identity bridges, web-app single sign-on (SSO) solutions, and more. A directory chained on-prem and weighed down by several handfuls of other SaaS solutions to help it do its job is hardly agile. Thankfully, when it comes to agile directory services, one solution in particular has started turning IT admins’ heads.
JumpCloud® Directory-as-a-Service® is an agile directory service platform for the modern era, reimagining AD in the cloud. An endpoint-centric identity management solution, JumpCloud provisions access to systems regardless of platform (Windows, Mac, Linux), provider, network, or location. Directory-as-a-Service provides IT admins and end users alike with a True Single Sign-on™ experience. Thanks to the LDAP, SAML, and RADIUS protocols, authorizing connections to applications and networks anywhere is now easier and more secure than ever. This agility to be able to respond to any resource a user can leverage is how JumpCloud Makes Work Happen™.
To learn about the agile directory, JumpCloud Directory-as-a-Service, check out our YouTube Channel or blog. You can also contact us with your questions; our team would be happy to help. If Directory-as-a-Service seems like the agile directory for you, consider signing up for the product for free. Your first ten users are free forever.
Zach is a Product Marketing Specialist at JumpCloud with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. He loves being on the cutting edge of new technology, and when he's not working, he enjoys all things outdoors, music, and soccer.
