Federated identity management (FIM) is all about being able to manage a person’s identity which likely sits across multiple systems for specific purposes. While the aim of IT is to ensure security under an identity and access management (IAM) strategy, it is also meant to ensure that users are able to securely access systems that they are authorized to access without having to deploy potentially expensive single sign-on systems.
 
Mary Rudy, Research Director for Gartner wrote on her blog that the phrase “federated identity” originally meant that that partners could use their own logins to access enterprise resources, or an employee could access multiple systems from different without having to login multiple times using different credentials (Single Sign-On).
 
One of the trusted names in IAM, CA Technologies announced that it has been named a leader in the “IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Federated Identity Management and Single Sign-On 2014 Vendor Assessment.”
 
This IDC study assesses 13 different vendors in the identity and access management (IAM) market that have or are developing federated single sign-on (FSSO) solutions. CA SiteMinder and CA CloudMinder were evaluated for this report.
 
According to the report, “CA Technologies has worked diligently to stay current with market demands and, as such, offers extremely competitive software in mobile authentication and cloud delivery options.”
 
The report also stated: “In customer interviews, CA Technologies received high marks for adaptability and support of multi-OS and legacy environments. In one case, the customer environment spanned half-a-dozen operating systems including Windows, mainframe, UNIX and Linux, plus multiple database systems.”
 
“CA Technologies offers its customers solutions with the functionality, usability and flexibility they need to expand their businesses,” said Vic Mankotia, VP, Solution Strategy, Asia Pacific and Japan for CA Technologies. “We are giving our customers choice when it comes to IAM. Whether it’s including unlimited federation with each CA SiteMinder license or choice in deployment , we can meet their IAM needs for today and in the future.”
 
Rudy concedes that cloud, mobile devices, social media and electronic data (context) are forcing changes in the Identity and Access Management (IAM) space. She cites the example of social media credentials being used as credentials for access, including transactions.
 
“I’ve been tasked to think about the future of federated identity and I’ve been thrashing back and forth about whether “federation” is becoming more prevalent or going away. One thing is certain, the boundaries on the old narrow definition of federation are blurring and increasingly the word federation doesn’t bring clarity to the discussion,” she adds.

CA Technologies identified Hitachi as a current SiteMinder customer. 
 
To receive a complimentary excerpt of the report, please visit: http://bit.ly/1dUVAo2.