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As the identity management space continues to enjoy a renaissance of sorts, a new generation of top identity management solutions has emerged for modern networks. The core of IAM (identity and access management) has primarily been owned by one solution for many years, and the only excitement came from solutions that could be added onto this core foundation. Now though, next generation identity management solutions are shaking up the market by shifting the core of identity management to the cloud.
A Brief History of Identity Management
For nearly two decades, Microsoft® Active Directory® (AD) has been the core identity provider in the vast majority of IT organizations. Active Directory is Microsoft’s on-prem directory services platform designed for managing on-prem networks consisting of Windows®-based IT resources. When AD was brought to market in 1999, most enterprise networks followed this Windows-centric model. As a result, AD quickly became one of the most dominant identity management solutions to date.
By leveraging Active Directory in an on-prem, Windows-based environment, users could simply login to their Windows-based desktop or laptop, and they were subsequently granted access to any of the Windows-based IT resources they needed via the domain controller. On the flipside, IT admins were able to leverage a single identity management solution to centralize IAM for IT resources throughout the network. Not surprisingly, IT organizations loved it. Yet, for better or for worse, it wasn’t meant to last.
Modern Identity Management Challenges
Today, the key challenge is that modern networks are no longer Windows-based, nor completely on-prem. For example, Mac® and Linux® systems are more popular than ever, AWS® offers infrastructure as a cloud-based service, Samba file servers and NAS appliances are popular on-prem storage solutions, web applications exist for just about anything, and even the network itself has shifted from a wired connection to wireless via WiFi. With all of these changes and more, Microsoft’s legacy directory service platform has struggled to keep up. In fact, while AD may still be able to connect users to a small portion of their IT resources, the rest of the functionality that modern IT organizations need is likely being delivered by third-party add-on solutions, such as web application single sign-on, privileged identity management, identity bridges, and more.
With that in mind, we can begin to understand why so many IT admins are wondering what are the top identity management solutions for modern networks. Ideally, IT organizations would be able to leverage a single identity management solution that supports virtually any IT resource without anything on-prem. Fortunately, a next generation cloud identity management platform has emerged that offers a comprehensive array of identity management capabilities designed for modern IT networks. It’s called JumpCloud® Directory-as-a-Service®, and it is effectively AD reimagined for the cloud era.
Next Generation Cloud Identity Management
JumpCloud Directory-as-a-Service is a next generation identity management platform that securely manages and connects users to a comprehensive array of IT resources without anything on-prem. This can include disparate systems (Windows, Mac, Linux), web and on-prem applications via SAML and LDAP, cloud and on-prem storage solutions, and networks via RADIUS, just to name a few examples. In doing so, IT organizations can leverage a single identity management solution to connect users to all of the IT resources they need. This time, however, IT admins are empowered to choose the best IT resources for their organization because they are armed with the peace of mind that comes from knowing they have a top identity management solution at the core of their identity management infrastructure.
Learn More About Modern Identity Management
If you would like to see one of the top identity management solutions in action, sign up for a free account or schedule a demo today. You can explore the full functionality of our platform at no cost, and we even offer 10 free users to help get you started. Don’t hesitate to contact JumpCloud if you have any questions.
