GITEX 2012 Marks Formal Launch of MENA Expansion in Partnership with Value-Added Distributor Shifra

September 13, 2012

Centrify Corporation, the leading provider of security and compliance solutions that centrally control, secure and audit access to cross-platform systems, mobile devices and applications, today announced that it has signed a distribution contract with Shifra, a leading value added distributor serving the Middle East and North Africa market, to promote, sell and service Centrify security and compliance solutions.

Shifra, based in the UAE, is a value added distributor for information security products with a partner network spanning the Middle East and Africa.  The company now offers and supports the entire Centrify Suite 2012 product portfolio for centralizing authentication, privilege management and auditing of cross-platform systems within Microsoft Active Directory.

In today's heterogeneous IT environments, establishing accountability by linking access privileges and actions to named users is a complex task, especially with UNIX and Linux systems, and mobile devices.  While Active Directory provides a central repository for Windows accounts, user entitlements for other systems often reside in disparate identity silos or are managed locally system by system.  Centrify, with more than 4,500 customers worldwide, centralizes and bridges the management of these accounts with Active Directory to meet compliance requirements and security needs of organizations.

"With increasing awareness for information security and the increase in cyber security attacks in our region, demand for securing customer environments and centrally managing it to give visibility of who did what on the network has become a priority," said Ahmad Elkhatib Managing Partner of Shifra.  "We are happy to bring Centrify's world class technology to our region through our network of specialized channel partners, to best address our customers' security needs."

A recent survey conducted by IDC among CIOs in the Middle East shows 70% of top IT executives in the region see security as a top critical concern of business organisations. Centrify, along with regional partner Shifra, will showcase its security and compliance solutions at the forthcoming GITEX 2012 exhibition to help businesses in the region implement and execute a unified security and compliance systems that will protect their most important IT assets.

Centrify's global go-to-market strategy is focused on building an international network of technically enabled partners that can assist mutual customers to address both their information security and regulatory compliance requirements in-region.  Centrify works with partners, such as Shifra, which act as an extension of Centrify in their respective Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions, which provide local-language sales, technical support and services.  Shifra has committed significant local resources to the Centrify partnership who have all been trained by Centrify in preparation for this partnership.

"Centrify already supports a number of high-profile customers across the Middle East and North Africa," said Olly Carter, EMEA Channel Manager, Centrify Corporation.  "To further our traction, we are thrilled to now be launching in the region with Shifra.  Compliance, security and operational efficiency is driving customer demand in our Unified Access Management portfolio - and as such, Shifra will recruit, manage and develop a network of value added partners to give us the necessary coverage in all MENA countries.  For example, we will be hosting our first partner technical accreditation training course in Dubai later this month, we will be attending the Gitex exhibition in October, and we have a number of events and roadshows planned.  We are delighted to partner with Shifra to facilitate our growth in this valued and very fast-paced market."

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About the Centrify Suite
The Centrify Suite lets organizations centrally control, secure and audit access to cross-platform systems, mobile devices, and applications by leveraging an infrastructure they already own -- Microsoft Active Directory.  Built on an integrated architecture, the Centrify Suite strengthens security, enhances regulatory compliance initiatives, and reduces IT expense and complexity.  The Centrify Suite -- consisting of DirectControl DirectAuthorize, DirectAudit , DirectSecure  and DirectManage  -- delivers secure authentication and single sign-on, role-based access control, privileged identity management, mobile security management, user-level auditing for Windows and UNIX systems, server isolation, and encryption of data-in-motion for the industry's broadest set of heterogeneous systems and applications.

About Shifra
Shifra is a value added distributor of information security solutions in the Middle East and North Africa region, based in Dubai Internet City and founded in 2007 as a security consultancy.  In 2010 Shifra was re-launched as a VAD with a complimentary portfolio of Information Security solutions to introduce to the Middle Eastern market.  Shifra was founded by a team of information security experts that hold a cumulative experience of more than 50 years in the field in the U.S., Europe and the Middle Eastern region.  With an extensive experience in channel development, multi-national security vendors, and system integrators, the Shifra team understands the needs of the market and delivers on them.  For more information, see http://www.shifra-me.com.

About Centrify
Centrify delivers integrated software and cloud-based solutions that centrally control, secure and audit access to cross-platform systems, mobile devices and applications by leveraging the infrastructure organizations already own -- Microsoft Active Directory.  From the data center and into the cloud, more than 4,500 organizations, including 40 percent of the Fortune 50 and more than 60 Federal agencies, rely on Centrify's identity consolidation and privilege management solutions to reduce IT expenses, strengthen security and meet compliance requirements.  For more information about Centrify and its solutions, call +44 (0) 1344 317950 in EMEA or +1 (408) 542-7500 in the U.S., or visit http://www.centrify.com/.

Centrify, DirectAudit, DirectControl and DirectSecure are registered trademarks and DirectAuthorize and DirectManage are trademarks of Centrify Corporation in the United States and other countries.

© Press Release 2012