PingOne

Cloud-based IAM is positioned as a competitive subset of both IAM and broader information security, with many offerings specializing in discrete capabilities like Single Sign-On (SSO). A complete Cloud IAM capability set is described as enabling rapid onboarding and offboarding—especially for external users such as partners, customers, citizens, and students—supported by identity federation and self-registration. Core requirements also include directory services (either integrated cloud directories or integration with existing on-premises/cloud directories), access management for cloud services and web applications (with both coarse- and fine-grained authorization), reporting and logging integrations, versatile authentication options (including mobile and social logins), and strong integration with on-premises IAM/IAG and security intelligence platforms (e.g., syslog feeds to SIEM/RTSI). The overarching viewpoint is that Cloud IAM should complement, not replace, on-premises IAM for most organizations by extending IAM reach to external populations.

PingOne is presented as Ping Identity’s Cloud IAM/IDaaS offering focused on “Workforce Identity” and “External Identity,” delivering cloud-based identity and access experiences for employees and broader user groups across private/public cloud and SaaS applications. PingOne integrates with PingFederate to enable more complex policies, integrations, and enterprise-grade identity bridging. Ping Identity’s broader portfolio spans federation, directory, data governance, data synchronization, MFA, and web/API access management.

Operationally, PingOne runs on AWS across multiple regions and offers two primary editions: PingOne for Enterprise (SSO, provisioning, user management) and PingOne for SaaS (simplified app integration via Application Provider Services). It includes an app dashboard, supports 2,000+ preconfigured applications, and enables multiple authentication approaches via PingID and PingFederate. Strengths center on breadth of standards support, ready-to-use SaaS integrations, and tight product integration, while challenges include limited risk-adaptive authentication today and potential cost concerns at scale under the standard per-user licensing model.

• Cloud IAM capabilities include federation, self-registration, directory services, access management, reporting/logging, versatile authentication, and integration with on-premises IAM/IAG and SIEM/RTSI.
• Ping Identity offers seven products: PingOne, PingFederate, PingDirectory, PingDataGovernance, PingDataSync, PingID, and PingAccess.
• PingOne operates on Amazon AWS in US (Oregon and Virginia), Sydney (Australia), and Frankfurt (Germany) data centers.
• PingOne is available as PingOne for Enterprise and PingOne for SaaS, with Enterprise including SSO, provisioning, and user management.
• PingOne provides a user application dashboard accessible from multiple device types.
• PingOne supports more than 2,000 preconfigured applications.
• PingID supports email and SMS one-time passwords, voice biometrics, Apple Watch, and YubiKey authentication mechanisms.
• PingFederate can support FIDO U2F, RSA SecurID, RADIUS, and smart cards.
• PingOne includes basic self-registration without configurable workflow support.
• Ping Identity acquired UnboundID in August 2016.

• “Cloud-based IAM (Identity and Access Management) is a competitive market within IAM in particular and Information Security in general.”
• “From the KuppingerCole perspective, Cloud IAM must be complementary to existing on-premises IAM, enabling organizations to seamlessly extend the reach of their IAM to new groups of external users.”
• “Some organizations will rely fully on IDaaS solutions, but for most of them, it is about enhancing their existing infrastructures.”
• “PingOne is a solution that specifically focuses on what Ping Identity calls ‘Workforce Identity’ and ‘External Identity’”
• “When used with PingOne, PingFederate provides an enterprise-grade identity bridge that provides a lightweight solution for supporting more complex use cases, policies and integrations.”
• “It provides a ‘dashboard’ where users can view and quickly access their approved apps.”
• “Customers can also manage how users access these apps through group access control and context-based authentication policies.”
• “As with all PingIdentity products, user management and service administration are quite easy.”
• “Among the weaknesses, we see primarily a modest risk-adaptive authentication capability.”
• “In summary, PingOne is a strong and interesting offering in the market that should be evaluated when looking for IDaaS solutions to manage access to Cloud services.”