OpenAthens SP

OpenAthens SP is a new, standards compliant, software platform that enables providers of protected online resources to deliver secure access to their content. It implements the latest open standards and reduces the upheaval and cost of adopting new technologies. OpenAthens SP has been developed specifically for:

• Commercial publishers.
• Organisations wishing to share internal resources.
• Different organisations sharing resources within collaborative projects.

OpenAthens SP can be implemented quickly. Its ongoing support for emerging access and identity standards will ensure you’re in the best position to take advantage of new market opportunities and emerging access management federations worldwide.

How it works

The benefits of using OpenAthens SP

• Flexible - Implement the technologies and open standards you need to access the markets you want to reach.
• Future proofed - Adopt new technologies as and when it makes sense to do so.
• Cost effective -  Lower the cost and impact on your internal IT resources of implementing new technologies.
• Minimise risks - Reduce the risk in adopting new technologies and open standards.
• Fully supported - Maintain continuity and quality of service to your subscribers.

Eduserv – trusted Access and Identity Management experts
OpenAthens SP is a key part of Eduserv’s OpenAthens access and identity management product and service framework.
Eduserv is a leader in Access and Identity Management and has provided a secure and reliable managed service to large-scale communities such as the NHS, universities and FE colleges in the UK since 1996. Today around 3 million users worldwide make in excess of 41 million authentication calls every month to gain access to protected online resources through Eduserv’s Athens and OpenAthens services.

Flexible and future proofed

At the heart of OpenAthens SP’s flexibility is its open, modular architecture, work-flow and data-management platform.
The unique modular architecture allows Service Providers to adapt to the technologies that are most appropriate to their markets within a single platform solution.

Service Providers can easily add modules to take advantage of new standards, new technologies and new market opportunities with no impact on existing subscribers. Current modules provide support for:

• Athens
• SAML 1.1 (Artifact and POST bindings)
• SAML 2.0 (HTTP-Redirect, Artifact and POST bindings)
• Shibboleth 1.2, 1.3 and 2  
• OpenID
• Microsoft CardSpace

Service Providers can be confident that their infrastructure will benefit from technical advances in access and identity management with minimal impact on internal IT resources. Eduserv is committed to providing further modules as new technologies and standards become established.
Service Providers can also write their own bespoke modules to accommodate specific requirements from subscribers.

Reduced costs and risks in implementing new technology

OpenAthens SP lowers the cost and risk of adopting new technologies.
It does this by providing flexibility in the initial choice of solutions and through the ease with which changes in the technology landscape and the needs of the organisation can be accommodated.

Once OpenAthens SP has been installed, the time, cost and technical resource required to introduce new protocols to support new federations, are significantly reduced. The time taken to apply the Shibboleth module within OpenAthens SP is around 80% less than the time taken for a native Shibboleth implementation.

Easy integration with existing systems
OpenAthens SP has been designed for easy integration with existing systems. It can be implemented quickly and easily to provide secure access to commercially published materials, shared internal resources or resources from collaborative projects between different organisations.

The OpenAthens SP “no coding” web server plug-in is the easiest way to get started. An API (Application Programming Interface) is also available for organisations that need a solution which fully integrates with their own access management systems, as is often the case with publishers. OpenAthens SP provides full cross-platform API support.

Web-server plug-ins:

• Apache 1.3, 2.0 and 2.2
• IIS 5.0, 5.1 and 6.0T
• Tomcat 5.5
• WebSphere and WebLogic

Supported platforms:

• Windows via native C API, ActiveX and .Net
• Linux native C API
• Solaris 8, 9 and 10 native C API
• FreeBSD 6.x native C API
• Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 native C API
• Java JDK 1.5 and 1.6

Supported languages:

• Ruby
• C/C++
• Ruby via C extension
• PHP via C extension
• .Net
• Java

Service and support

Eduserv is renowned for its commitment to a high level of service. Our Athens service has delivered 99.9999% uptime since its inception.
We provide an ITIL-compliant service desk, 24x7 infrastructure monitoring and reassurance through our Service Level Agreements. Eduserv’s service desk team is highly trained and has extensive experience. The service desk is able to escalate calls through to the actual development team responsible for the solution to ensure timely resolution of any support call.

Further information

To discover how to take advantage of OpenAthens SP in your organisation call Eduserv on 01225 474380 or email help@eduserv.org.uk.