Microsoft 'TrustBridge' to Secure Identity Sharing
Redmond today unveiled the Federated Security and Identity Roadmap outlining plans for standards-based security in Microsoft products, and announced an upcoming set of technologies code-named "TrustBridge" that will enable the sharing of user identity information between applications and organizations.
TrustBridge technologies will run on Windows .NET Server and build upon Web services protocols including the WS-Security specification introduced in April.
TrustBridge integrates with Active Directory and .NET Passport, allowing businesses to authenticate and share user identities directly with other organizations. As more applications implement support for WS-Security and Kerberos, TrustBridge will allow for a federated security model without the need for complex custom architectures.
Key features outlined by Microsoft in the announcement include support for browser-based single sign-on, trust management and auditing tools, as well as full integration with existing Windows Server tools.
"Early on, Microsoft recognized that the key to taking the success of XML Web services to the next level hinged on the industry's ability to 'federate' or establish cross-company trust," said Sanjay Parthasarathy, Microsoft's corporate vice president of the Platform Strategy Group. "Microsoft is filling a critical need for our customers and the industry by supporting the industry standard protocols for federating XML Web services across the Microsoft product family."
While pricing and deployment plans have yet to be announced, Microsoft expects to ship TrustBridge technologies in 2003. Windows .NET Server is currently slated for release early next year, after a slew of delays set back development. A pre-release candidate of the server operating system, build 3628, was made available to testers last week.
Microsoft will also upgrade .NET Passport in 2003 to embrace full support for WS-Security, and pitch the authentication service as the standard for businesses and consumers alike.