Likewise, the open source company that made its bones connecting Linux, Mac OS X and Unix systems to Microsoft Active Directory, has sold off its Active Directory Bridge business unit, including its Likewise Open and Likewise Enterprise software, to Beyond Trust so it can concentrate on "disruptive" storage software.

It claims it "sits at a very unique intersection of the storage, identity and security markets; we plan to fully exploit this position. As many of you know, we have quietly become the foundational platform for many of the biggest names in the storage industry. Moving forward we will be making a number of much higher profile announcements."

Terms of the deal were not announced but Likewise will be using the money from the sale to build out its next-generation storage platform, which will apparently apply the company's identity smarts to addressing the challenge of providing secure cross-platform storage across physical, virtual and cloud environments.

Its OEM products, Likewise Storage Services and the Likewise Identity Service, used by HP and EMC, are said to provide consistent and secure access to data with cross-platform support on Linux of the CIFS/SMB and NFS protocols for simple-to-manage, low-cost, NAS-enabled storage.

It will also bring to market an end-user product for the enterprise, built on the Likewise Storage Services platform.

The acquisition of the Active Directory Bridge business unit expands BeyondTrust's portfolio of "inside perimeter" privilege delegation, monitoring and auditing solutions to include authentication and auditing management for cross-platform and cloud environments.

The widgetry will be released as its new PowerBroker Identity Services platform in an Enterprise Edition and Open Edition.

Centrify is offering Likewise customers a migration out with free support.