Saturday, August 6, 2011

Capability-based, Secure Convergence

Continued from previous blog article: Communication Convergence

Communication convergence is ongoing, for example between the mobile and the fixed Internet. This is putting pressure on businesses to enable more of their services to be accessed and used seamlessly across different networks and platforms.

While communication convergence is good for business, it must also meet contract, regulatory, and legal duties such as availability, accessibility, equal access, integrity, breach notification requirements and fines, and confidentiality (when needed). These concerns, of course, also affect consumers and whether they are willing to use an online resource provided by an organization.


The ZSentry solution is as ingenious as it is simple to explain. The next sections can help you apply it.

Organizations today would likely see the following main choices of resources for services, devices, software, network, and providers:
Google Apps, Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, Thunderbird, Apple Mail, iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Exchange Server, email, webmail, SMS, IM, Single-Sign-On, and file storage.
However, in defining a suitable set of resources, the central question for a corporate purchase decision is not about the resources themselves. What matters is the set of capabilities that they can support in common, and how this set matches the business needs of the organization. Organizations, therefore, have to look into what capabilities those resources may have in common, such as:

(a) They are HIPAA compliant
(b) They work together
(c) They can help reduce online risks
(d) They make it easier to use different devices

Today, however, the only common point between those resources is (e) none of the above.

But option (e) is not helpful. The list of resources above includes leading brands and services and yet many organizations cannot use them due to lack of HIPAA compliance, which is a mandatory business need in the US health-care sector. Other organizations have no legal HIPAA requirement but face other barriers in using those resources, such as higher online risks (e.g., passwords, server breach), not working well together, and limited functionality.

Adding NMA ZSentry creates a new option: “all of the above and more”

NOTE: NMA ZSentry is available at zsentry.com

What NMA ZSentry does NOT do: Changes. ZSentry does not change any of the services, devices, software, network, or providers. There is no change to any user interface. Does not change how email or other Internet protocol works. Does not receive email and does not host email addresses for users. There is nothing to download or install, no plugins or add-ons, no digital certificate to add. There is no POP or IMAP server use, no stored cookies, no ActiveX controls, no Java, Javascript is not required, setup is optional.

For example, you continue to receive email at your usual Inbox, with an email address that you already have, using your Mail client or web browser as before, and with nothing routed through ZSentry.

What NMA ZSentry DOES do: ZSentry complements the capabilities offered by leading services, devices, software, network, and providers, enabling compatible, usable, secure, HIPAA & HITECH Safe Harbor compliant solutions in all platforms, with seamless operation and surpassing known limitations including higher online risk (for example, due to password vulnerabilities and server breach).

How is this even possible?

We designed NMA ZSentry as a middleware, which is a technical term. It means that ZSentry stays in-between (the “middle” in middleware) what you already have. It works with the message itself, not receiving the message, not at a storage place for the message, and not even in sending the message.

User Requirements & Security

Particularly for businesses, communication convergence must not only offer services that work together. They should also be HIPAA compliant (when needed), Safe Harbor compliant (to eliminate costly breach notification requirements and fines), help reduce online fear, make it easier to use different devices, present a uniform user interface and, for easier adoption, reduce change.

These needs can be provided by adding ZSentry, which works Sans Target and is able to fully protect personal and other sensitive information against inappropriate and unauthorized use and disclosure, whether due to external or internal attacks.

ZSentry can also work at client and server sides with a least-requirements strategy, automatically using what is available and offering “instant-compliance” with HIPAA and HITECH Safe Harbor regulations.

The Focus is on Capability, not Resources


By adding ZSentry, communication convergence becomes more effective and can be used to also blur the lines between resources such as services, devices, software, network, and providers. Rather than talk about resources the focus is now on capability, which is what matters for businesses.

With ZSentry, it is also not so relevant anymore where a capability resides or how it emerges for the user. What matters is that the capability is provided according to the User Requirements that are needed for the operational conditions. For example, if the organization sending protected information is a Covered Entity under HIPAA, it matters whether a user can read it with HIPAA compliance.

Easier Market Entry, More Choices for Customers

By adding ZSentry, what used to be a software, that needed to be bought, installed, and often updated, can become a service that has no installation and is always up-to-date. A market dominated by a secure corporate email service using proprietary devices tied to a single provider, can be disrupted by a secure corporate-oriented ZSentry service that works in any device and provider, and not just for email.

Adding ZSentry is also a platform that facilitates the opening of communication markets to competition and empowers users to find their own desired aggregation of resources including services, devices, software, network, and providers, rather than only using available market packages.

Can Convergence be Personalized?

Communication convergence benefits both consumers and business, and increasingly allows real-time, anywhere use. However, users need to make do with whatever convergence level might be available in the market, even at the high-end.

By adding ZSentry, users can personalize the convergence experience. For example, consumers may just want a least-cost combination, while organizations may want to choose a best-of-breed combination of resources that reduces both risk and cost.

Summary


NMA ZSentry provides organizations with regulatory compliance and communication convergence as a service/platform, working with leading solutions in an “all of the above and more” approach.

Adding NMA ZSentry technology can also help new companies play a role in the process of convergence, where new market players can move in more rapidly and with less cost, adopting different market models from conventional telecommunication companies and potentially create new markets.

More: Visit ZSentry >>

1 comment:

  1. (submitted online by MG)

    I agree that there is a "fallacy of composition" at play in new cloud and unified comms architectures around security. How could providers of different communications channels (e.g. voicemail, SMS, telephone) incorporate your technology to solve business problems in customer interaction? Or it is solely incumbent on the enterprise to extend existing channels?

    ReplyDelete