Collaboration SIG: Why User-Centric Identity Matters July 24, 2006

A few years ago, as Microsoft ended its plans to make Passport an Internet-wide identity service under heavy criticism and lack of market interest, the notion of user-centric digital identity began to emerge. Today, many vendors and organizations, both large and small, have rallied around user-centric digital identity, leading to a number of new technologies such as OpenID, Yadis, LID, XRI and Higgins, as well as some unprecedented collaborations. One of the most exciting developments is OSIS, an open source version of Microsoft's CardSpace (formerly known as InfoCard) technology, behind which a number of vendors -- including Microsoft -- are rallying.

What is user-centric digital identity, and why does it matter? How will it affect our ability to collaborate more effectively in better, and more dynamic environments? What services and features does it provide that bear on collaboration within and outside of the enterprise? Johannes Ernst will lead an interactive session describing the overall architecture, the different technologies and projects, and the different players in the space. He will describe the problems these technologies are solving, their current status, and why and how you can get involved. He will also lead a brainstorming session on the impact of these new technologies on collaboration.

About the Speaker

Johannes Ernst is the founder and CEO of NetMesh, a developer of a Web 2.0 software platform. He is credited with the idea of using URLs to identify people, which led to technologies such as LID and OpenID. He is also a co-initiator of the Yadis and OSIS projects. Prior to founding NetMesh, Johannes was the founder and CEO of Aviatis Corp., which developed distributed engineering collaboration tools. He also worked at Integrated Systems (now Wind River) and BMW Research and Engineering. In 2001, he became a World Economic Forum "Technology Pioneer."

Official Website: http://collaborationsig.jot.com/WhyUserCentricIdentityMatters