We are creating some awesome events for you. Kindly bear with us.

How A*STAR is enhancing the research ecosystem in Singapore: Federated Identity Management System

How A*STAR is enhancing the research ecosystem in Singapore: Federated Identity Management System

The Information Technology Shared Services (ITSS) team at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in
Singapore has developed a web-based system for automated authentication and
authorisation for end-users of the National Super Computing Centre (NSCC)
resources at the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) in Singapore.

The Federated Identity Management (FIM) System allows staff,
researchers, and students at A*STAR, National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang
Technological University (NTU), Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD),
and Singapore Management University (SMU) to access e-Resources offered by the NSCC  and
SingAREN, without the need to change
existing usernames or passwords of their home IHLs.

NSCC manages Singapore’s first
national petascale facility
 with high performance computing (HPC)
resources to support science and engineering computing needs for academic,
research and industry communities, while  SingAREN is the sole provider of
local and international networks dedicated for serving the Research and
Education community in Singapore.  SingAREN’s members consist of the
Institutions of Higher Learning (IHLs), Research Organizations, Government and
network industry players.

The proposed solution has been adopted by NSCC since it is a
proven working system. The solution is well-connected and integrated seamlessly
with the existing systems, as compared to the commercial products available in
the market.

The identity management system removes the risk of user
keying errors, as the users are automatically authenticated against their home
organisation. The system not only allows the members to sign-on to the NSCC
facilities, but also supports the users to access services across various
organisations, such as A*STAR, NUS, NTU, SUTD.

This project provides significant benefits for the end user,
service provider and Identity provider.

The end-user gets an improved user experience by accessing
more services, and there is no need for them to remember additional passwords.

The service provider can easily interface with the system,
thereby saving significant time in creating user accounts to access the new
services. Identity provider is the one who manages the single identity
management system (user accounts and passwords etc.), while allowing their
valid users to access more services in the federation.

Researchers, faculty staff and students from stakeholder
organisation of NSCC can self-register their accounts, anytime and anywhere (Web
Single Sign – On or WebSSO), immediately using their existing Username and
Passwords of the host organisation. This FIM User Portal also helps to
periodically verify the user access rights of staff – such as password changes every
3 months – due to built-in security features. 

In the absence of the FIM system, it would be a highly
tedious process to register thousands of user accounts from different
organisations. Thus, FIM improves the overall staff productivity, and also
saves time and money. Furthermore, this provides the option to add more
organisations into the FIM system.

Through the FIM implementation, a total cost savings of about
S$250, 000 has been achieved, as it eliminated the need to buy a commercial
software available in the market. The amount of $250,000 cost savings has been
considered based on the customer quotation received from Centrify. 

The FIM system also provides faster access to global
scientific databases and libraries. The system provides a ‘File Sender’
facility, a secure collaboration ‘Dropbox’ for sending/ receiving big files
globally.

Professor Tan Tin Wee, Chief Executive, NSCC, praised the
FIM system, saying, “FIM provides an opportunity for everyone in our
stakeholder institutions to have an universal access to NSCC supercomputers at
the level of most basic of resources, i.e., able to try it out, educate
themselves on the supercomputer, write and compile software, run very small
test jobs, learn how to submit jobs etc.”

 

PARTNER

Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

PARTNER

CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

PARTNER

Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

SUPPORTING ORGANISATION

SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

PARTNER

HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

PARTNER

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

Send this to a friend