 Identity ManagementThis newsletter is sponsored by SymantecNetwork World's Identity Management Newsletter, 05/21/07ITU kick-starts its participation in identity managementBy Dave KearnsLast week was the spring meeting of the Internet Identity Workshop at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. - just a stone’s throw from the Google campus. This was, I believe, the fifth IIW meeting, which is held twice a year – spring and winter. The next one is in December. IIW has been the incubator for OpenID as well as the meeting ground for Microsoft’s CardSpace, the Liberty Alliance People Protocol, open source’s Bandit Project and everything else that could be linked to the amorphous space called “user-centric” identity. At this session, though, there was a new participant – the ITU. The International Telecommunications Union is no stranger to the identity space as it is the current incarnation of the organization that developed the x.500 directory system, the source of most of the directory - and ultimately identity - technology we use today. Over the past dozen years, though, the ITU has lagged well behind in staying involved with the rapidly changing identity space. To overcome this perceived problem, the ITU formed The Focus Group on Identity Management last December. The stated objective of the Focus Group is to “facilitate the development of a generic identity management framework.”
In reality, of course, the ITU is all about multinational communications carriers – telephone companies, as we used to call them. And the real purpose of the focus group is to kick start their participation in defining the identity landscape that’s now emerging. I was certainly prepared to denigrate the group’s effort. I was prepared to find lots of fault with its goals and processes. But it did make the effort to come to IIW, so I gave it the benefit of the doubt. It might not have been politic, though, for ITU spokesman and Vice Chairman Dick Brackney to show a slide illustrating all of the various identity schemes, protocols, systems, etc. labeled: “Each domain (silo) is being independently developed for specific near-term/first-to-market needs, with little consideration for interoperability, harmonization, and convergence.” Especially not at a conference where representatives of Sun, Microsoft, Novell, OpenID, the Liberty Alliance, IBM, and many more were discussing “interoperability, harmonization, and convergence”! But as I listened to Brackney and VeriSign’s Tony Rutkowski talk about the group’s genesis and purpose, I realized that this wasn’t some attempt to hijack the process, but a sincere effort of the part of global telecommunications companies to find ways to facilitate both their businesses and the emerging identity fabric of the network. A number of the Focus Group’s members, including Chairman Abbie Barbir, participated in the various IIW sessions as both passive listeners and active questioners. It’s also a plus that IBM’s Tony Nadalin, who participates in IIW, Liberty Alliance and the Web Services Initiative on Identity, is the second vice chairman of the ITU Focus Group. They’re trying to develop a common lexicon of identity (good luck!) as well as developing a series of use cases for identity and telecommunications. But not the same old use cases. Instead, a subcommittee is working on defining use cases that aren’t addressed by those developed by other organizations. There’s potential for real good work here, and the opportunity for any of you to participate. There’s an aggressive schedule of meetings on almost a monthly basis, all around the world, but also via Web-based broadcast. You should at least review the group’s charter and schedule and consider sitting in on at least one meeting before deciding if this is a useful activity for you. Events: The ITU Focus group’s next meeting is June 13-14 at VeriSign’s offices in Dulles, Va., in conjunction with the Liberty Alliance meeting taking place June 11-13.
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| Contact the author: Dave Kearns is a writer and consultant in Silicon Valley. He's written a number of books including the (sadly) now out of print "Peter Norton's Complete Guide to Networks." His musings can be found at Virtual Quill. Kearns is the author of two Network World Newsletters: Windows Networking Strategies, and Identity Management. Comments about these newsletters should be sent to him at these respective addresses: windows@vquill.com, identity@vquill.com . Kearns provides content services to network vendors: books, manuals, white papers, lectures and seminars, marketing, technical marketing and support documents. Virtual Quill provides "words to sell by..." Find out more by e-mail. This newsletter is sponsored by SymantecARCHIVEArchive of the Identity Management Newsletter. BONUS FEATUREIT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICESTo subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: security.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007  |
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