Xceedium, Inc., the premier provider of privileged identity and access management software for the hybrid cloud, today announced Xsuite® for VMware vSphere®. This extension to the Xsuite platform enables organizations to secure and audit privileged access to VMware vSphere, including both VMware vCenter™ Server and guest operating systems on VMware vSphere. With this release, Xsuite provides a comprehensive privileged identity and access management solution that protects traditional systems along with infrastructure running on VMware and public-cloud environments. Xceedium is now an Elite member of the VMware Technology Alliance Partner (TAP) program, enabling the company to further its integration with VMware products.

Xsuite enables organizations to know exactly who is accessing guest operating systems, as well as VMware vCenter Server, and to see exactly what they did. It proactively monitors and records administrative sessions on both VMware vCenter Server and guest operating systems, and it stops any unauthorized activity before harm can occur. Xsuite’s unified policy management enables organizations to seamlessly manage and enforce policies from a single interface, improving security and streamlining compliance tasks. Xsuite for VMware vSphere is delivered as a turnkey, OVF-based virtual appliance for simplified deployment and management.

Xsuite for VMware vSphere Highlights: Xsuite for VMware vSphere includes these major access control and audit capabilities for securing and auditing privileged access to VMware vSphere environments. It provides the security and compliance controls below for both VMware vCenter Server and guest servers running on VMware vSphere.

• Complete Privileged Identity and Access Management for both VMware vCenter Server and Guest Operating Systems on VMware vSphere: Centrally manage and enforce roles and privileged user policies for access to the VMware vCenter Server and guest systems running on VMware vSphere.
• Role- and Policy-Based Privileged Access Control: Centrally control access to VMware vCenter Server and guest operating systems running on VMware vSphere.
• Full Audit Trail and Session Recording: Log and record all privileged user sessions for VMware vCenter Server and guest operating systems running on VMware vSphere.
• Privileged User Single Sign-On: Once authenticated to Xsuite, authorized users are a single click from VMware vCenter Server or guest systems running on VMware vSphere.
• Password and Access-Key Management: Vault and manage the full lifecycle of privileged user credentials and access keys for the VMware vCenter server and guest operating systems on VMware vSphere.
• Full Identity Attribution for Shared Accounts: Tie all privileged user activity on both VMware vCenter Server and guest operating systems to a specific user identity, even if guest operating systems are configured with shared accounts (e.g., root, administrator).
• Auto-Discovery and Provisioning: Xsuite is integrated with VMware vCenter Server APIs, enabling auto-discovery and auto-provisioning of security and compliance policies for guest operating systems.
• Smartcard-Based Multi-Factor Authentication: Xsuite supports several multi-factor authentication methods including the smart cards mandated by the U.S. federal government and increasingly used by commercial organizations.
• High Assurance and Public-Sector Ready: Xsuite is FIPS 140-2 compliant and carries other important government certifications (Common Criteria EAL 4+, Unified Command Approved Products List UC/APL).

Xsuite for VMware vSphere is an extension of Xsuite’s current hybrid-cloud security and compliance capabilities. Xsuite secures both traditional and virtual infrastructure running on premises or in the cloud, and provides protection for cloud management consoles.

Supporting Quotes:

Parag Patel, Vice President, Global Strategic Alliances, VMware

“Organizations in highly regulated industries require privileged identity and access management and can benefit from the enhanced protection and compliance that Xsuite for VMware vSphere® can provide. We welcome Xceedium as an Elite member of the VMware TAP program. VMware and our Elite partners are driving the convergence of cloud infrastructure and virtualization for our customers, enabling greater efficiencies and reliability. Through the TAP program, companies like Xceedium can extend the benefits of VMware cloud infrastructure to fuel transformation within customer environments.”

Glenn Hazard, CEO, Xceedium

“Our customers are aggressively pursuing virtualization and cloud computing. While these technologies bring tremendous business benefits, enterprise customers must address security risks and meet stringent regulatory compliance mandates wherever their systems reside. Xsuite for VMware extends our leadership position in protecting hybrid-cloud infrastructure and provides our customers with the flexibility, confidence, and investment protection they need to adopt the IT architectures that best suit their business requirements.”

Availability and Pricing

Xsuite for VMware vSphere will be available to customers during the first quarter of 2013, with pricing to be announced at that time. With this release, Xsuite also will be available as a turnkey Open Virtualization Format (OVF) appliance.

About Xceedium

Xceedium is the leading provider of privileged identity and access management solutions for hybrid-cloud enterprises. Large companies and global government agencies use Xceedium products to reduce the risks that privileged users and unprotected credentials pose to systems and data. The company’s Xsuite platform enables customers to implement a zero trust security model. Xsuite vaults privileged account credentials, implements role-based access control, and monitors and records privileged user sessions. With unified policy management, Xsuite enables the seamless administration of security controls across systems, whether systems reside in a traditional data center, a private cloud, on public cloud infrastructure, or any combination thereof.

Xceedium solutions enable organizations to comply with security and privacy mandates such as: PCI DSS, FISMA, HIPAA, and NERC CIP. The company’s products provide industry-leading reliability, availability, and scalability, and are the most highly certified products in the market with designations including FIPS 140-2 Level 2, Common Criteria EAL4+ and the U.S. DoD Unified Command Approved Products List (UC/APL). For more information, please visit www.xceedium.com.

VMware, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. The use of the word “partner” or “partnership” does not imply a legal partnership relationship between VMware and any other company.