* Oracle lends its "identity management expertise" to the Liberty Alliance
San Diego last week saw the gathering of the greatest minds in identity management. The Burton Group’s 10th Catalyst Conference was everything we’ve come to expect of this event, but bigger.
Burton CEO Jamie Lewis once again succinctly encapsulated the “state of the industry,” ably abetted by service director Phil Schacter. Senior Analyst (and identity management point man) Mike Neuenschwander, as usual (see below for reports from last year’s event) punctuated a useful keynote address with outrageous claims. Every vendor with an oar in the waters of identity management was present, and each had a message, often compelling, that should be shared with you.
All of these things we’ll get to in upcoming issues over the next couple of weeks, but I wanted to start with what to me, was the most outrageous occurrence of the week. As is frequently the case, when “outrageous” and “software vendor” are part of the same sentence, a third element is frequently “Larry Ellison.” Ellison is probably the only person I know who can make Bill Gates appear humble.
Certainly, Oracle isn’t new to the identity management space. Oracle Identity Manager is based on the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol-enabled Oracle Internet Directory, which has been around for a few years, although it appeared mostly to be a “place holder” for future expansion. Now, evidently, that time has come.
Late in May, Oracle very quietly acquired Phaos Technology, a company whose CEO, Roger Sullivan, frequently contributed useful quotes and scenarios to this newsletter. Since Sullivan and Phaos were deeply involved with the Liberty Alliance, it only stands to reason that Oracle would assume Phaos’ seat on that body. But it was the announcement of Oracle’s membership that pointed out the qualities that seem to indicate that Ellison’s middle name is “chutzpah.”
“Through its membership in the Liberty Alliance, Oracle plans to leverage its expertise in security and identity management to help further the organization’s success and development,” says the press release. That’s right, Oracle is going to take its (limited) expertise in identity management and its (non-existent) expertise in security and show those Liberty Alliance people, Sun, Novell, Entrust, HP, RSA, et al, how to do federated identity. I can only hope that, next year, Ellison himself will deliver a Catalyst keynote.
One of the better points Neuenschwander made was that, in choosing an identity management vendor you should consider “longevity in the market” as a top priority. When Ellison and Oracle come calling with their “expertise” remember Mike’s words, and hope that the Liberty Alliance does also.
Still, there was a lot of useful information available last week, and we’ll start into that with the next issue.
