Quest Software Inc. (Nasdaq: QSFT) today announced that Adobe Systems Inc. has licensed technology from Quest to improve ease-of-use and document security by integrating its Adobe®LiveCycle™ Policy Server with Active Directory across Unix, Linux and Java environments. The Adobe LiveCycle Policy Server will be able to leverage single sign-on through Active Directory to enhance document confidentiality, authorization and auditability of documents.

Quest’s Vintela Single Sign-on for Java product provides native authentication of Java and J2EE applications and services with Active Directory. By licensing this technology from Quest, Adobe will be able to provide customers with secure access to protected documents – inside or outside an organization – using their Windows ID/password, smart card or other authentication mechanism. This increases security by leveraging stronger forms of authentication and eliminating the need for multiple passwords, IDs, or logins.

“Managing multiple identity stores is complex and costly, and by working with Quest Software, we have built in a secure identity bridge that spans the heterogeneous platform management gaps,” said John Landwehr, director of security solutions and strategy, Enterprise and Developer Business Unit, Adobe Systems Inc. “With Quest, there is no need for synchronization of multiple identities. Instead, customers can work with a single identity store – in this case Active Directory – and use it for many purposes, thereby simplifying some of their identity management challenges.”

As part of the agreement, Adobe LiveCycle customers will be able to enjoy transparent authentication from Active Directory every time they access, attempt to access, or edit a protected PDF document. Customers who wish to extend this single sign-on capability to other Java and J2EE applications can license the full Vintela Single Sign-on for Java product from Quest Software. Vintela Single Sign-on for Java also provides the integration necessary to extend Active Directory-based federation (through Active Directory Federation Services) beyond the Windows platform to include Java and J2EE applications.

“The ability to control and audit document access and change is a key tenet of regulatory compliance,” said Jackson Shaw, senior director of product management, Quest Software. “We are honored that Adobe has chosen Quest to enable Adobe LiveCycle Policy Server’s identity and security integration with Active Directory.”