Password success

For Ahmed El-Haggan, managing email passwords for 3,800 students at Coppin State University in Baltimore used to be a major hassle.

In 2000, that challenge was going to get a lot worse because Coppin State was expanding its online learning program. El-Haggan, the university's vice president of information technology and chief information officer, used to mail a letter to each new student with an email address and password. His staff then had to answer calls from students who inevitably forgot their passwords.

Then, El-Haggan found Fischer International Identity, a Naples-based company whose mission is what industry insiders call “identity management.” With Fischer's help, El-Haggan automated the university's password systems for functions such as new-student email addresses and department networks. “What we used to do in a week takes two minutes,” he says. The number of password-reset calls dropped 90% and Coppin's information-technology department saved 22 hours a week while doubling the number of online-student registrations.