Ovid Expands its Shibboleth Compliance to Include
the Japanese Federation

New York, NY (August 25, 2009) – Ovid, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health and a global leader in electronic medical, scientific, and academic information research solutions, is pleased to announce it has expanded its Shibboleth compliance for OvidSP, its market-leading search and discovery platform, to include the Japanese Shibboleth Federation. Now, institutions in Japan that are part of that country’s Shibboleth Federation can establish authorization rights for end users allowing for secure, single sign-on access to important resources on OvidSP. Currently, Ovid is Shibboleth-compliant with the UK Access Management Federation for Education and Research, as well as with federations in France and Germany. Ovid continues to work with other countries to support their authentication needs by establishing Shibboleth compliance.

“As more institutions recognize the value of secure, single sign-on user access and the Shibboleth movement gains momentum globally, Ovid is well positioned to offer Shibboleth authentication support for any interested federation,” said Andrew L. Popper, Vice President of Publishing & eProducts at Ovid.

Content vendors use a variety of authentication mechanisms to manage access to their products. The security vulnerabilities and variety of these mechanisms make it challenging for a library portal to provide uniform and reliable access to the library's electronic subscriptions. Various institutions can join together in a Shibboleth federation, enabling users to get easy single sign-on access to content resources at institutions within the federation.

About Ovid and Wolters Kluwer Health
Ovid® is a global information solutions provider offering clinicians, professionals, students, and researchers in the medical, scientific, and academic fields, customizable solutions of content, tools, and services that make research smarter, faster, and more effective. Ovid is used by the world’s leading colleges and universities; medical schools; academic research libraries and library consortia; hospitals and healthcare systems; pharmaceutical, engineering and biotechnology companies; and HMOs and clinical practices.

Ovid is a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health and pharmacy.  Major brands include traditional publishers of medical and drug reference tools and textbooks, such as Lippincott Williams & Wilkins and Facts & Comparisons®; and electronic information providers, such as Ovid®, UpToDate®, Medi-Span® and ProVation® Medical.