IceWEB Integrates Microsoft Active Directory

IceWEB, Inc. announced that its IceSTORM Operating System now natively integrates with Microsoft Active Directory, providing IT administrators with a fast and easy way to manage and authenticate user access rights for storage shares on IceWEB unified storage systems.

Active Directory is Microsoft's standard system for assigning user and group access to assets and devices on a company's network infrastructure. Devices running a Windows Operating System such as a SQL or Exchange server come standard with Active Directory integration. Until now, unified storage devices have not been able to natively and dynamically search Active Directory, since unified devices typically ship with the manufacturer's own non-Windows OS.

Through its software product development, IceWEB has created functionality that enables IceSTORM to natively port Active Directory rights management policies, users, and groups directly into the IceSTORM Operating System, saving IT administrators time without having to manually assign users and groups with rights to write, access, and/or change objects in a shared directory on IceWEB's unified storage systems.

"Virtualized environments and cloud deployments add a layer of management complexity to an overburdened IT administrator in organizations, particularly in the mid-market," said Amita Potnis, senior research analyst within IDC's Storage Systems program. "IceWEB's approach was to simplify user and group access management by integrating Active Directory in its IceSTORM Operating System, thus reducing the burden of an IT organization that is juggling multiple disparate management protocols."

"Part of IceWEB's commitment to providing the absolute best unified storage system available, is identifying and removing any workflow speed bumps that cause friction in managing the ever-growing storage that IT admins must face every day," said Gaurang Mehta, IceWEB's CTO. "Natively integrating with Microsoft Active Directory has been one of those speedbumps left unaddressed by even the largest vendors of unified storage systems. We're happy to be the first vendor to simplify and expedite unified storage management yet again with the innovation announced today."