Introducing Serverless Access Control for Real-Time Apps

Oct 22, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 22, 2013 -- PubNub, the only global Real-Time Network, today announced the launch of PubNub Access Manager (PAM), which adds serverless access control to its cloud-based real-time infrastructure.  Developers can now manage granular permissions for their real-time apps and data, allowing them to deliver powerful new types of applications. The announcement follows significant growth and momentum for the company, including the announcement of an$11 million Series B round of funding in September 2013.

The PubNub Real-Time Network is a global cloud-based infrastructure that provides the key building blocks for delivering real-time experiences at a massive scale.  The addition of PAM enables developers to grant fine-grained Publish and Subscribe permissions for their real-time apps and data, without hosting authentication servers. Access control can be granted at various levels: person, device, channel or key.  PAM works with any existing authentication system: Facebook Connect, Twitter, Google, LDAP and homegrown solutions. With PAM, companies don't need to host dedicated authentication servers, which can be a frequent source of performance bottlenecks.

"We're excited about the new types of real-time apps, like subscription services, point-to-point apps and social apps that developers can build on the PubNub Network with the addition of PAM," said Todd Greene, founder and CEO of PubNub. "The PubNub Real-Time Network handles all the infrastructure, scale, security and access for applications, so real-time just works."

PAM enables developers to build powerful new types of real-time apps including:

  • Subscription services to real-time financial, traffic or social data streams where access can be easily granted and revoked on a per subscriber basis
  • Point-to-point apps, such as home automation, where secure real-time data is streaming bi-directionally between devices
  • Social apps where secure real-time communication is peer-to-peer, with the option to monitor and intervene in user interactions when needed (ban a user, change privileges, etc.)

"Revolv's home automation solution lets users control their home lights, locks, thermostats and more from their smartphone. We use PubNub for reliable, real-time, one-to-one device communication between mobile phones and the Revolv in-home hub," said Lee Taylor, Head of Engineering for Revolv. "With PubNub's new Access Manager, we are able to greatly simplify our architecture so that our client-to-client applications can work seamlessly and securely over a single PubNub channel, without having to continuously hit our servers for authentication."

For more information about PubNub Access Manager go to: (www.pubnub.com).

About PubNub

PubNub is transforming how people live, work and play within virtual environments. Powered by a platform to build and operate real-time interactivity within mobile, web and IOT apps, our chat, live audience engagement, geolocation and dispatch, multi-user collaboration, and other forms of real-time use cases are enjoyed by millions of people across the globe every day. Founded in 2010, over 2000 companies worldwide choose PubNub because of the speed, reliability, and scalability of our platform and because we help their customers feel more connected to one another, the brand, and the product experience.