Thor XellerateIM 8.0 - InfoWorld Test Report

During the months we spent planning for this test, we had two five-minute phone calls with Thor Technologies. The first was to invite them to the test, and the second was to discuss the test scenarios. Their response after reading the test plan was simply, "OK." This worried us quite a bit, given the numerous lengthy conference calls and level of detail that all the other players demanded. Our concern only grew the first morning of the test, when Thor's lone engineer opened her laptop, downloaded the MySQL Java connector, and began writing all the custom connectors on the fly.

We needn't have worried. Although Thor clearly had done the least preparation, it simply nailed the test, running quickly and confidently through every test scenario without a hitch, and even completing all the extra-credit portions with ease. XellerateIM is simply very well done.

Thor's approach is largely agentless. The company prefers to use external connectors to tie in various systems rather than require agents to be installed on every server, which is quite slick but also requires legwork. The Thor engineer toiled for more than two days to bring together the AD and MySQL-based HR system -- and to create all the necessary connectors to all the managed resources.

The Thor integration tool for creating connectors and managing databases and directories isn't quite as straightforward as IBM Tivoli Directory Integrator, but it offers a similar toolset. As with IBM's tool, Thor's can be used to create one-time or recurring connectors. After all the various data sets had been mapped and the database integration completed, this same tool performed the reconciliation tasks that brought changes from the HR system into play.

The Web GUI is as efficient and intuitive as any identity management interface we've seen -- which isn't saying all that much -- providing a nice portal to corporate directory information as well as administrative and user self-service functions. The JBoss (Profile, Products, Articles) and Oracle back end proved very responsive, even when running on the Dell (Profile, Products, Articles) Inspiron 700m laptop that doubled as the primary workstation for Thor's engineer.

The auditing and reporting functions of Xellerate are also well-designed and well-implemented, and they include the ability to notify admins of aberrations on reconciliation runs. After Xellerate discovered Harry's unauthorized admin account, it not only removed the account but alerted us to the violation. Although Xellerate includes a relatively thorough reporting engine, integration with Crystal Reports is also possible.

Throughout the test, it was obvious that Thor has identity management down pat. The downside is the cost: $250,000 for the solution we tested in the lab for 2,700 users. It's a steep price to pay, but Thor can back it up.