Federated Identity On the Rise

Some companies have deployed home-grown federated technologies. Oblix and Plumtree Software combine the Liberty-based network access tools of Oblix with Plumtree's portal software. "Plumtree provides an integrated access-management solution with its portal, and it allows us to upsell our products to its portal partners," says Ken Sims, Oblix vice president of business development.

Serge Shinkar, product manager for Communicator, says the company's Liberty-based HubID solution uses a set of APIs to integrate itself into existing systems. "It's not a centralized ID manager because companies still want to control their information, but they will let a trusted third party manage it," he says.