IBM plans to announce a tool called Secure Perspective to help non-technical people establish security policies.

The software runs on IBM's System i operating system, the i5/OS, to let business managers or IT administrators set up data-access policy for users. The tool, in which role-based user identity controls and privileges are expressed in non-technical terms, is intended to make it easy for the business manager to work with IT to set relevant policies, says Steven Finnes, System i business continuity product manager.

"This helps articulate policy using natural language, in this case English," Finnes says. While Secure Perspective today is only available for IBM's i5/OS, plans call for developing versions for Windows and other operating systems.

Once the object-based data-access security policy is established, Secure Perspective enforces it on the server and can generate audit reports related to events, Finnes says.

The software costs US$1,500 per managed processor.