Government of Norway (Norway.no)

Success at a Glance

With three official Web portals (www.norway.no, www.noreg.no and www.norge.no), Norway.no’s primary task is to act as a gateway to the public sector in Norway. As part of the eNorway 2009 effort to improve citizen access to government agency service providers, the Government of Norway wanted to establish a single, common access point to all government electronic services. “Currently, it is not very easy for our citizens to conduct their affairs online with county and national government agencies,” says Tor Alvik, Department Manager at norway.no. “Citizens typically interact with government agencies one or two times each year. It is hard for them to find what they need. And, they must log into each one individually, increasing the time and complexity it takes to do complete government business over the Web.”

Sun partner Software Innovation ASA, one of the Nordic countries’ foremost companies in the development of innovative IT solutions, developed an effective citizen portal based on Sun Java System Portal Server 6.3 and Sun Fire servers running the Solaris 10 Operating System. Each service provider’s applications are contained in a single portal, addressing citizen expectations for secure, highly individualized services all in one place.

The ease of integrating new features and capabilities is one of the benefits of the Sun Java Enterprise System. The portal aggregates content on the fly, executing data and business logic within each service provider’s IT infrastructure. Service providers register applications using the WS-I Basic Profile specifications, and new service definitions are stored in Sun Java System Directory Server; once published, the applications are immediately available to users. Secure authentication is provided using a common mechanism for all service providers, and users are auto-provisioned using Sun Java System Access Manager and Sun Java System Directory Server. Software Innovation also implemented Sun Java System Calendar Server to help remind citizens of upcoming events.

As part of the solution, Sun Java System Access Manager and Sun Java Federation Manager help the Norwegian government manage secure access to services by offering single sign-on (SSO) as well as enabling federation across trusted networks of government agencies, service providers and customers. It provides open, standards-based authentication and policy-based authorization with a single, unified framework. This improved security framework is based on the Liberty and SAML standards to protect all aspects of the portal. Coupled with Solaris 10, the most advanced operating system on the planet, the solution lets Norway securely host hundreds of services on the same system.

User and global events are merged by Sun Java System Portal Server, providing a personalized view. Sun Java System Message Server enables both service providers and citizens to communicate with each other. The messaging system allows users to communicate securely with service providers, archive messages, and manage their personal folders in a closed environment. “Identity management, messaging, and calendaring are all integrated within the portal framework,” explains Stein Myrseth, Chief Architect at Software Innovation. “Strict adherence to Web and security standards has helped us quickly respond to our customer’s requests for new capabilities.”

The Sun hardware and software solution enabled the government to launch the portal successfully. Norwegian citizens, from teenagers to seniors, now have secure, personalized access in four languages — Bokmål, Nynorsk, Sami, and English — by using their unique identity numbers. eNorway 2009 is already looking ahead to new services and features, including adding new municipal service providers, messaging confirmation, and saving work in progress. Sun Java System Portal Server is helping Norway build a digital bridge between its citizens and its government.