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BT Saves More Than £18 Million by Enabling Simplified Sign-On Using CA Identity and Access Management


WEBWIRE

DITTON PARK, UK, and ISLANDIA, N.Y. – CA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CA) today announced that BT has saved more than £4.5 million per annum since 2004 using CA SiteMinder. BT’s use of CA SiteMinder has resulted in a decrease in IT administration, application development, password reset requests and support of auditing and compliance. BT has centralized its user authentication and authorization to key external and internal Web applications using CA SiteMinder to perform 36 million transactions per day.

BT provides networked IT, telecommunications and broadband services and its operations spread across 170 countries. In the UK alone, the company serves more than 18 million customers with 28 million exchange lines and 11.2 million broadband connections. Customer service delivery, collaboration and the ability to provide secure access over the Web for customers and suppliers are central to BT’s future growth.

BT has four portals in total, including BT.com, which all play a key role in connecting the company and its customers. More than eight million individuals regularly use the websites to access a range of self-service options from viewing bills and setting up direct debits to placing orders and managing the email accounts to which their paperless bills are sent. With BT.com and the other portals offering a gateway to personal information, it is essential that only authorized customers gain access to their own records. Robert Temple, Chief Security Architect for BT, said, “Customers expect us to get security right and don’t want to worry about issues such as identity theft. Any problems with identity and information management could be very damaging to our reputation as one of the UK’s most trusted brands.”

Prior to using CA SiteMinder, BT staff had to remember multiple passwords. “By using CA SiteMinder we have been able to decrease the number of internal passwords by enabling simplified sign-on, which has helped to increase efficiency and reduce the volume of password resets,” commented Temple. In addition, BT has eliminated the need for multiple point solutions that were previously being used for user authentication.

BT has also extended its CA SiteMinder deployment by using it in conjunction with identity federation to enable its users to access applications and data hosted by some of the company’s suppliers. “Setting up federated identities was very simple using CA SiteMinder,” Temple said. “Although there are still cultural and legal challenges surrounding federation, we now have a flexible and scalable model that we will eventually be able to extend to thousands of suppliers and other partners.”

BT employees can now access applications, such as staff surveys and personal development records, using this federated approach. Identity federation will also help the company deliver on its cost control promises by helping improve efficiency and productivity. “With federation we can share information more easily with our suppliers, with the boundaries between organizations and systems becoming invisible for staff,” said Temple. “By establishing a standards-based reusable authentication capability, we have been able to reduce complexity and further our vision for 21CN.”

CA UK & Ireland Senior Vice President and Area Manager Chris Miller said: “CA SiteMinder has enabled BT to greatly simplify user authentication and authorization and significantly cut overall administration costs. In the current economic climate, CIOs have to ensure their IT operations are leaner and meaner while maintaining customer service delivery. CA SiteMinder is helping BT achieve this balance by ensuring the right people gain trouble-free access to the right level of information assets, whether customers who want to manage their account or BT’s staff, developers and partners who want rapid information access to complete their daily tasks.”



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