Venafi, a provider of systems management for encryption software, today announced the integration of Venafi Server Encryption Manager (SEM) with the IBM (NYSE: IBM) Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Services for z/OS. The new offering enables users of IBM's flagship mainframe operating system to easily deploy, manage and control digital certificates, significantly reducing the risk of system failure from un- or under-managed encryption while assisting efforts to increase operational efficiency, improve data security and facilitate compliance with new industry regulations.
With encryption use on the rise, IBM Systems z customers are seeing a proliferation of certificates in use throughout their organizations, and are using PKI Services for z/OS as a secure, robust certificate authority. The latest release of Venafi SEM will enable these customers to automate the issuance and maintenance of new certificates as well as the discovery of existing certificates; facilitate policy-driven configuration of applications to utilize the certificates; and perform ongoing certificate lifecycle management, monitoring and reporting.
"Managing these certificates within z/OS provides a high level of resilience and security, and with Venafi SEM now integrated with our PKI Services, these companies can now significantly simplify the process," said Jim Porell, Chief Architect, IBM System z Software. "This in turn supercharges PKI Services for z/OS with a potential for a much lower total cost of ownership for internal certificate authority functions."
Fifth Third Bank (NASDAQ: FITB) is already beginning to automate encryption management, according to Erik T. Heidt, Assistant Vice President, Cryptographic Consulting and Architecture Team, at the Fortune 500 financial services firm. "The z/OS support in Venafi SEM is going to enable Fifth Third Bank to leverage our existing investment in mainframe security controls to build a solid foundation for our internal PKI infrastructure," Heidt said. "To build out equivalent controls around another hardware platform would make deploying a secure Certificate Authority cost prohibitive. Being able to leverage our existing z/OS investment and use Venafi to select Certificate Authorities (internal or commercial), by policy we will realize year-one savings and greatly accelerate our ROI."
According to Trell Rohovit, Venafi President & CEO, simplifying encryption management for IBM z/OS will help users of IBM z/OS mainframe take better advantage of the encryption that is critical to data protection. "We have had numerous requests from our customers and the marketplace to leverage the certificate authority capabilities of IBM z/OS," Rohovit said. "Delivering support for IBM PKI Services for z/OS significantly extends our business and is a tremendous win for our customers and prospects."