Last week's issue on so-called user-centric identity technologies in the enterprise ("Where do OpenID and InfoCards fit?") reminded me that there was a Microsoft announcement in early July that I should have written about but hadn't as yet. So today we'll correct that oversight.

It was just a month ago that Microsoft released a public beta version of a development tool codenamed Zermatt. As reported by Network World’s John Fontana: “...the tools are a new extension to the .Net Framework 3.5 that helps developers more easily build applications that incorporate a claims-based identity model for authentication/authorization…The technology not only eases development of claims-aware applications, but should also benefit IT by making it easier to deploy, manage and secure applications, according to Microsoft.”

I’ve said all along that Microsoft’s CardSpace (and the more generic – and often open source – “InfoCard”) technology had a role to play in the enterprise but needed an easy way to be assimilated into applications and services. Zermatt is that “easy way.”

Significantly, Fontana reported that Venkey Veeraraghavan, senior program manager lead for Office SharePoint Server, says Microsoft would adopt the claims-based model to replace the collaboration server's current authentication system “…because claims are more flexible and designed for heterogeneous identity environments.” SharePoint, of course, is Microsoft’s hottest technology in the enterprise space right now and securing SharePoint is one of the hottest areas for identity vendors this year. Switching SharePoint to a claims-based model would ensure the success of CardSpace in the enterprise.

In conjunction with the release, Microsoft has published a white paper “Zermatt For Developers” which begins: “Most developers are not security experts and many feel uncomfortable being given the job of authenticating, authorizing, and personalizing experiences for users. It’s not a subject that has been traditionally taught in computer science curriculum, and there’s a long history of these features being ignored until late in the software development lifecycle.” That’s something we’ve been saying for quite a while, so it’s nice that it’s finally being addressed. Get the paper and give a copy to all of your developers. Then tell them about downloading the Zermatt beta.

While Zermatt is decidedly .Net and Windows specific, we should expect that ports for Mono and InfoCards will soon appear, or at least appear once Microsoft has finalized Zermatt. We can expect a rush of new identity-related services and applications to follow. The plane is ready to close its doors and take off – you'd better get on board. (Compare Identity Management products)

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