THE COLUMN
The column: IAM stack analysis from The Access Desk
Short answer
Dated analysis on how identity tools fit together: who bought whom, which job each new feature lands in, what suites include, and how to read vendor pages. Every post states its publication date and the read dates of its sources. Vendor figures are quoted as the vendors' claims.
2026-10-08
IAM acquisitions in 2026: what changed hands and what it means for your stack
MarketVendorsServiceNow and Veza, SailPoint and Entro, Cisco and Astrix, Cyera and Oasis: which jobs each deal touches and what to ask.
3 min read
2026-10-08
AI agents reach every IAM job: what seven vendors announced in 2026
AgentsVendorsMicrosoft, Okta, SailPoint, Saviynt, Lumos, C1 and Ping all shipped or announced agent features. They land in different jobs.
3 min read
2026-10-08
Suite or specialist: what Microsoft and Okta include in each tier
PricingVendorsThe published tier tables of the two largest identity suites, which jobs they cover, and when a specialist tool makes sense.
3 min read
2026-10-08
Five questions to map your current IAM stack before you buy
MethodWhere people come from, which apps are connected, how leavers are removed, where admin access lives, and who watches sign-ins.
2 min read
2026-10-08
Where Orchid Security fits in an IAM stack, and where it does not
VendorsOne documented job, three partial ones, and the limits a buyer should know, from Orchid's own pages.
3 min read
2026-10-08
NIST IR 8587 and the token problem: what it means for the threat detection job
StandardsGuidance on protecting tokens and assertions, published in September 2026, moves attention from sign-in to the whole session.
2 min read
2026-10-08
Active Directory is still in the stack: detection and recovery options
DirectoryVendorsMicrosoft, Semperis and Silverfort describe three different ways to watch AD, and recovery is a separate question.
2 min read
2026-10-08
How to read an IAM vendor's page: documented, claimed or missing
MethodThe three kinds of statement on vendor pages, and how this desk turns them into statuses.
3 min read