Centrify Announces Support For Apple Mac OS X Mountain Lion With Active Directory-Based Security And Management

PRESS RELEASE

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — July 25, 2012 — Centrify Corporation, the leading provider of security and compliance solutions that centrally control, secure and audit access to cross-platform systems, mobile devices and applications, today announced that its DirectControl for Mac offering supports the just-released Apple Mac OS® X Mountain Lion operating system with Active Directory-based authentication, access control and Group Policy for users.

As Mac computers continue to move onto corporate desktops, IT managers are looking for a way to accommodate their users’ choices of platform without having to add additional management infrastructure and hire or train additional staff. While IT desktop support personnel can centrally configure security, desktop and application settings for PC users using Group Policy, Macs are still often managed on an ad-hoc basis, and administrators are challenged addressing the bring your own device (BYOD) trend when it comes to Macs, iPhones and iPads. When combined with Centrify’s DirectControl for Mobile offering, organizations can obtain comprehensive enterprise-grade control over authentication and security policy enforcement for all Apple Mac, iPhone and iPad products in their environment without the hassle of deploying complex new infrastructure and dealing with yet another “pane of glass” from a separate standalone management console.

The DirectControl for Mac solution, part of the Centrify Suite 2012 , enables administrators to utilize Active Directory and Windows Group Policy to centrally control Mac systems in the workplace, including systems running on Apple Mac OS X Mountain Lion. IT administrators can easily manage authentication, authorization and configuration of Mac OS X and iOS systems, as well as lock down the user’s desktop environment, enabling the Mac to be easily integrated into the most complex Windows environments.

“There is a rush of Mac products into enterprises today, and Centrify’s Apple Mac support centralizes operations and strengthens security by creating a single point of administration for all systems, devices and users in Active Directory,” said David McNeely, Senior Director of Product Management at Centrify. “Since Mountain Lion is available today in the App Store for everyone to install, providing OS X Mountain Lion support from day one was important in our continued support for enterprise organizations with growing Mac user populations.”

Centrify is also adding support for new features introduced in Apple OS X Mountain Lion. For example, Centrify supports Apple’s new Gatekeeper feature by providing a signed installer package with Mountain Lion. Gatekeeper ensures safe downloads by protecting users from inadvertently installing malicious software. Using Group Policy, administrators can control which applications a user can install on their Mac by requiring that the application be digitally signed and validated by Gatekeeper.

Availability Centrify DirectControl for Mac OS X supporting the current 10.8 version is now available from Centrify and its partners. Current Centrify Suite customers can download DirectControl for Mac by logging in to the Centrify Download Center at http://www.centrify.com/support/downloadcenter.asp. More information on pricing and how to buy is available at http://www.centrify.com/products/try-it-buy-it.asp. Users of Centrify Express, or those wanting to try Centrify’s Active Directory authentication solution for Mac OS X and iOS, can download the free Centrify Express for Mac OS X at http://www.centrify.com/express.

About Centrify Centrify delivers integrated software and cloud-based solutions that centrally control, secure and audit access to cross-platform systems, mobile devices and applications by leveraging the infrastructure organizations already own — Microsoft Active Directory. From the data center and into the cloud, more than 4,500 organizations, including 40 percent of the Fortune 50 and more than 60 Federal agencies, rely on Centrify’s identity consolidation and privilege management solutions to reduce IT expenses, strengthen security and meet compliance requirements. For more information about Centrify and its solutions, call +1 (408) 542-7500 or visit http://www.centrify.com/.