NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: MICHAEL COONEY ON TECHNOLOGY UPDATE 11/29/04 Today's focus: A look at federated identity
Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED], In this issue: * The goal of federated identity * Links related to Technology Update * Featured reader resource _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored By BMC Software Linking IT Priorities to Business Objectives, an IDC whitepaper. Get insights from IDC on aligning business goals and IT priorities. IDC offers practical, actionable information on how Business Service Management can help you reduce operating costs, improve service levels, respond faster to business needs and protect delivery of business-critical. Click here to download this whitepaper now. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=88777 _______________________________________________________________ THE 2005 IT ROADMAP: Future Vision - Attend the Technology Tour Event of the Year! Where is IT headed? Which technologies are the new must-haves? Which look good now but are dangerous risks? Find out first and see solutions free at this exclusive reserve-now-or-you're-on the-outside-looking-in event! http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=89238 _______________________________________________________________ Today's focus: A look at federated identity By Michael Cooney It's one of those concepts that, to me at least, is obscured by it's own name: federated identity. In a nutshell, the goal of said technology is to offer users the ability to authenticate themselves to their local network and then be able to pass that authentication to partners for access to services or data on the partner's network. The idea is to ease user management and the associated costs, improve network security, provide a means to document regulatory compliance and fuel e-commerce and Web services that let partners share computing resources. Our Technology Update author (rxiong@ datapower.com) notes that there are several XML standards for federating identity across domains: Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML), Liberty Alliance and Web Services Federation Language (WS-Federation). They can be used to eliminate duplicate user repositories, while letting companies intermix standards-compliant products from different vendors. For example, an XML/SAML-aware gateway or proxy can be used to enforce access control efficiently and handle other Web services security processing such as XML threat protection, schema validation and message security. SAML and Liberty Alliance are converging: SAML 2.0 is under public review and will incorporate more advanced features from Liberty Alliance, such as single logout and account linking. Meanwhile, in a recent story Network World's John Fontana ( <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ) said early adopters of federated identity wares were reporting some of those benefits mainly in combination with business partners with whom they already have a relationship. Those relationships, they say, are the place to start because they reduce the trust and legal issues inherent in sharing user data and exposing corporate systems. Both those issues are major sticking points to adoption of federation. Users are concerned not only about liabilities in handling sensitive and often private data, but how partners will use or share that information with others through federation, which could expose otherwise confidential data. It's an interesting topic you'll be hearing more about in the coming year. For more on our Technology Update, see: <http://www.nwfusion.com/news/tech/2004/112904techupdate.html> RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS Roadblocks for shared IDs: Trust, immature standards Network World, 11/01/04 http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/110104federate.html RSA adds federated ID mgmt. Network World, 05/10/04 http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0510rsa.html Start-up Ping Identity unveils federation server, hooks up with IBM Network World Fusion, 10/27/04 http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/1027pingibm.html _______________________________________________________________ To contact: Michael Cooney Michael Cooney is an Associate News Editor. Aside from his news responsibilities, Cooney handles the Infrastructure and Enterprise Application sections of Network World. Cooney has been writing for Network World since 1992. He can be reached at <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored By BMC Software Linking IT Priorities to Business Objectives, an IDC whitepaper. Get insights from IDC on aligning business goals and IT priorities. IDC offers practical, actionable information on how Business Service Management can help you reduce operating costs, improve service levels, respond faster to business needs and protect delivery of business-critical. 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