Role-based management and role-based access control are never far away from a prominent place in this newsletter. From the comments I receive, many of you seem to be really interested in RBAC. I've often thought of trying to better solicit your input on the subject but hadn't gotten around to finding a method. Eurekify founder Ron Rymon evidently thought about it during the Chanukah holidays, though, because he's now posted an online survey to gather your thoughts about role-based management.

If you browse over to Eurekify's Web site you can fairly quickly mouse through the questions. You'll be rewarded by knowing that your input can help shape the future of identity management. Oh, and you'll also be entered into a drawing for a 30G-byte Apple iPod.

<aside> According to Apple, the iPod 30G-byte will hold 7,500 songs. Do you even know 7,500 songs? </aside>

Rymon has promised that once the survey is ended (scheduled for the end of this month, so hurry over and fill it out), the results will be made available through this newsletter. An excellent choice of venue, I'd add.

More role-based management should also foster further convergence of the security and identity worlds, continuing the idea (mentioned in the last two issues) that "convergence" will be the overall strategy throughout the industry for 2006. But one of the predictions I got was about something 180 degrees away from convergence.

MaXware spokesman Vance Skidmore believes that 2006 will mean a huge expansion in the diversity of provisioning applications and services. Far from converging, he believes that "...provisioning vendors [will] expand their solutions by introducing modular industry/vertical specific modules. These modules will be plug'n'play and will address the specific, unique needs and nomenclature associated with the particular vertical market." What that could mean, of course, is a lowering in the total cost of ownership for provisioning services. More modularity, more "plug'n'play" means less customization necessary leading to lower consultant costs for provisioning projects. Nothing wrong with that, is there? (Well, unless you're the consultant whose billable time is being cut.)

Cheaper, more easily implemented provisioning, better role-based management, converging standards - it could be a really, really good year!

Dave Kearns is a consultant and editor of IdM, the Journal of Identity Management.