Microsoft White Paper Sample

Joint efforts from Microsoft and Novell on identity federation benefit business users, IT teams, and consumers. Improved interoperability across mixed-technology directories provides easier sign-in access to enterprise applications and Web services, easier authentication management, lower IT costs, and enhanced security for business systems.

• User convenience. With interoperable identity systems, users do not need to remember multiple user names and passwords to access business applications throughout the day.
• Reduced IT complexity and lower IT costs. IT teams need to provision users in only one enterprise directory structure; through identity federation, users can access any application covered by the federated agreement on the network or over the Web. This reduces the expensive burden of account life cycle management and related helpdesk costs.
• Enhanced security. IT teams no longer have to worry about the duplicate cleanup work involved in decommissioning employee credentials or having employees change roles within an organization. IT personnel need only make user authentication changes once, rather than multiple times across multiple enterprise systems.
• Improved regulatory compliance. With interoperable identity management infrastructures, organizations are better able to produce documentation required for identity management audits and comply with federal and industry privacy regulations.