OREANDA-NEWS. July 17, 2012. Fujitsu and the Institute of National Colleges of Technology (KOSEN) today announced that, by deploying the Fujitsu UnifIDone integrated ID management package, KOSEN has developed an authentication system for centrally managing user data on shared systems that are used by faculty at national colleges of technology throughout Japan. By installing the new system at KOSEN's datacenter and distributing ID management services to each college, KOSEN has been able to integrate the colleges' previous authentication systems, which had been independently developed and operated by each college, into a single system.

As a result, KOSEN will be able to deploy a unified authentication system across all of its colleges. To accompany the construction of the new system, KOSEN has also upgraded the firewall(1) systems at each college with identical equipment, thereby enabling the deployment of a standardized hardware-based security environment. In addition, the institute is working to strengthen its security of operational processes by establishing uniform policies for data security across all of its colleges.

Starting this July, KOSEN will utilize the system to begin offering a new web-based paystub system that will enable faculty members to view paystub information from within school networks.
Background

KOSEN develops and operates business systems that are shared by all 51 of its colleges. As for the utilization of these systems, connectivity is restricted using an authentication system at each college in order to ensure that the appropriate services can be employed by faculty members based on their access privileges.

In order to optimize the use of its ICT resources at national institutes of technology throughout Japan, as well as to streamline administration and maintenance while strengthening information security, KOSEN recently took steps to integrate the authentication systems that had previously been independently operated by each college and deploy a standardized data security environment.
Measures Taken and Results
1. Standardization of authentication systems

Fujitsu UnifIDone, an integrated ID management package for universities, was deployed in constructing an authentication system at KOSEN's datacenter, which will deliver ID management services to each national college of technology. This, in turn, will allow for the centralization of user data on the institute's shared system. Furthermore, by leveraging Fujitsu's UnifIDone package, construction of the new system was completed in a mere three months.
2. Standardization of firewall equipment

By supplying identical equipment to upgrade the firewall systems at each college, the process for accessing networks at each school has been standardized.
3. Uniform data security policy

In addition to standardizing its authentication systems and firewall equipment, KOSEN has also established a uniform data security policy for all of its colleges.

Through the implementation of these measures, KOSEN has been able to standardize the system's administration and maintenance procedures, while also improving operational efficiency. Moreover, as a result of integrating the colleges' authentication systems and purchasing firewall systems in bulk, procurement costs and required man-hours were both minimized.