End to End Identity Management Architecture for the Enterprise
by Chanaka Kannangara
ABSRACT
Identity Management is fast becoming an important aspect in the organisation that the technologists and executives cannot afford to pay minimal attention anymore. Stringent, sometimes draconian regulatory requirements, ever increasing software licensing and operating costs and risks posed by identity theft are often seen as primary business requirements that drive the renewed interest of implementing comprehensive identity management framework within the organisations. Whilst the business drivers are clear and a compelling business case exists, it is common that CIOs, IT Managers and Architects find it difficult to determine and prioritise the implementation approach for an Identity Management framework. This is fuelled by the availability of numerous products and technologies which all play a part in Identity Management architecture and many interpretations from numerous vendors pushing mainly one aspect of Identity Management.
This paper looks at the end to end Identity Management architecture based on the fundamentals with a vendor independent view point. It focuses on the basics of attribute management, authentication and authorisation and how these fundamental Identity Management components are mapped to new and existing corporate information technology landscape. It also examines the often misunderstood and intangible benefits realisation aspects of Identity Management for the enterprise, its diverse user communities and partner organisations. The federation of identities are looked at as this brings about a new way of doing business with unprecedented efficiencies.
Chanaka Kannangara
Sun Microsystems
Download the paper: End to End Identity Management Architecture for the Enterprise (397K PDF)