Sun Expands its Commitment to Developing Open, Secure Identity Management
Solutions with a New Program to Explore Emerging Web-Based Identity
Technologies
SAN FRANCISCO, JAVAONE(SM) CONFERENCE, May 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Expanding its commitment to deliver secure web-scale identity management
solutions, Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) today announced a new
initiative around support for OpenID, a decentralized, web-friendly single
sign-on mechanism that allows consumers to reuse a single login across
different websites, tackling the "login explosion" problem. OpenID is
currently limited to facilitating low-risk transactions such as blog
comments. Through its new initiative, Sun is exploring what changes and
practices are needed to make OpenID applicable to a broader spectrum of
business and IT challenges. The company will actively encourage
participation from customers and technology partners through a series of
activities and real-life implementations that are initially driven by Sun's
Chief Technologist's Office.
"We're excited about finding ways to augment the use of OpenID with
technologies that fill out the rest of the identity picture -- meeting web
users' needs for autonomy and convenience while making it easy for web
businesses and communities to meet stringent security and privacy
obligations," said Jim McHugh, vice president of software infrastructure
marketing, Sun Microsystems. "Sun has been participating actively in the
community dialogue around OpenID and related technologies, and sees great
potential for OpenID's use alongside enterprise-ready software
infrastructure."
As enterprises increasingly open up access to data and services to
wider audiences and improve usability, the use of a decentralized
technology like OpenID will be an appealing way to manage account
proliferation. Integration with existing deployments, which often involve
enterprise-ready technologies like SAML and the Liberty Alliance's Identity
Web Services Framework will become an essential consideration. Sun is
working with customers and partners to combine and converge these
technologies to maximize effectiveness.
In order to explore the boundaries of OpenID as a trust system, Sun is
offering an OpenID Provider service to its 34,000 employees. People using
Sun- based OpenID identifiers at an OpenID-accepting website can convey in
this simple and secure manner that they are indeed Sun employees, a piece
of information that can enable access to employee discounts and unlock
other special services all across the web. Sun will work with partners to
extend special services on this basis.
The Sun OpenID Provider is built using OpenSSO, the open-source project
that is providing the basis for the Sun Java(TM) System Access Manager and
Sun Java(TM) Federation Manager products, as well as OpenDS, the
open-source project that is providing Sun's next-generation directory
services. Both of these projects now include OpenID extensions.
Sun will also determine how to OpenID-enable its own websites in an
appropriate manner, as well as how best to add valuable OpenID support to
additional products and platforms, such as the Sun(TM) Web Developer Pack.
To obtain more information on Sun's OpenID initiative, please visit
http://developers.sun.com/identity.
For more information about Sun's Identity Management offerings, please
visit http://www.sun.com/identity.
About the JavaOne Conference
Located at Moscone Center in San Francisco, May 8-11, the annual
JavaOne conference is one of the leading events for Java technology
developers. Established in 1996, the Conference provides technology
enthusiasts the opportunity to learn about the latest technology
innovations with Java technology, scripting, open source, Web 2.0 and more.
Developers get hands-on experience with the technology, can network with
their peers, and have the opportunity to network directly with technology
experts from technology industry leaders. For more information about the
JavaOne conference, visit http://java.sun.com/javaone.
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
A singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer"(TM) -- guides Sun in
the development of technologies that power the world's most important
markets. Sun's philosophy of sharing innovation and building communities is
at the forefront of the next wave of computing: the Participation Age. Sun
can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at sun.com.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Erica Pereira
Sun Microsystems
(650) 786-6337
erica.pereira@sun.com
allpress@sun.com
(650) 786-7737
NOTE: Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Java, JavaOne, and The
Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun
Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
SOURCE Sun Microsystems, Inc.
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Related links:
http://sun.com/
CONTACT:
Erica Pereira of Sun Microsystems,
+1-650-786-6337, or erica.pereira@sun.com, or +1-650-786-7737, or
allpress@sun.com
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