Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)

Business Issues

Demand for improved security and data protection is driving an increased need for public key infrastructure (PKI) related services including strong authentication, data encryption, secure email, wireless security, network security and data protection. Among the demands businesses face are:

• Enterprises feel locked into their current multi-PKI environments due to the complexity of migrating encrypted data to a single, strategic PKI
• Most current enterprise and commercial PKI providers have expensive per-certificate pricing models, which discourage increased or widespread use

Enterprises seek to meet these demands using a more comprehensive, strategic platform that provides better management and integration, better ROI, lower costs and a simplified user experience.

Edgile’s View

Historically, enterprise PKI has been delivered using specialized third-party software with high implementation, initial seeding and ongoing usage costs. Edgile employs a solution that features a more integrated strategic PKI platform, with better usability, and that is more cost effective. Adopting an integrated, strategic PKI approach drives business value by:

• Satisfying organizational needs across multiple usage scenarios, including network devices, applications, and users including authentication and encryption
• Leveraging existing infrastructure to simplify provisioning and automate certificate lifecycle processes
• Providing integrated end-user experiences that enable users to easily access certificate services
• Providing an ongoing support model that is tightly coupled with provisioning and identity systems and automates routine operational tasks
• Consolidating PKI environments onto a single, strategic platform such as Microsoft’s to achieve long term benefits

Business Value

Organizations are benefitting from increased strategic value of the Microsoft Windows Certificate Services (WCS) PKI platform. Microsoft offers an integrated, full-featured, enterprise-class PKI that can be deployed in a secure, cost-effective manner. The incremental cost for deploying Microsoft certificates is just an additional Windows Server License. There are no per-certificate or other licensing costs associated with Microsoft certificates, which make the Microsoft solution attractive for widespread deployment. And, it natively integrates with the most common user interfaces and middleware such as AD, Windows OS, driving seamless integration and improved user experience.

Edgile uses a set of methods and custom tools to simplify the entire process and automate migration of users’ identity credentials and their encrypted data. Edgile’s approach enables organizations to migrate to a new Microsoft PKI quickly and easily.

By consolidating multiple PKIs into a single strategic PKI platform, companies can simplify management and increase ROI:

Easier to Manage Enterprise PKI – Taking a strategic view of PKI can help drive significant long-term value. A strategically-designed PKI can deliver certificates throughout the organization for multiple usages. This leverages the initial investment, avoids multiple solutions, and lowers ongoing management costs.

Better Return on Investment (ROI) – Business value from PKI is derived from lowering the ongoing issuance and operational costs. The Microsoft PKI solution increases ROI by providing an integrated management framework. The end-user is able to efficiently and effectively use Microsoft certificates using a combination of Windows features, such as Auto-Issuance and Auto-Renewal, as well as the built-in capabilities of the Encrypting File System (EFS) and Outlook’s S/MIME processing. These features are integrated into Windows and Office, which users typically find to be familiar and easy-to-use.