UnboundID, a leading provider of identity data solutions for cloud, telco, and enterprise computing, announced today from the Internet Identity Workshop (IIW), that it will provide the first commercially available directory services solution that supports SCIM as a data access protocol, providing an easy, straightforward way for companies to manage and transfer user identities across multiple cloud-based services, including IaaS, PaaS and SaaS offerings.
The Simple Cloud Identity Management (SCIM) initiative solves the concerns companies have had with managing user identity in the cloud by making it easy to move users into, out of, and across cloud-based applications. The goal is to ensure adoption by making it simple to develop applications that provide SCIM as an interface for managing identity data and leverage it as a conduit to move identity data between existing applications, whether those applications are in the cloud, on-premise or somewhere in between.
SCIM developer partners gathered at the Internet Identity Workshop (IIW) today in Mountain View, Calif., to finalize protocol development and specification documentation for the initial release of the specification. Work on the initiative has been produced by developers from Cisco, Google, Ping Identity, SailPoint, Salesforce.com, VMware, and UnboundID, among others. UnboundID will be the first vendor to release products based on the SCIM protocols.
UnboundID was the first company to release a SCIM SDK, in July, which simplified the process of developing applications that leverage the SCIM specification. Today, UnboundID is announcing the upcoming release in Q4 2011 of SCIM enabled products. It will release the first commercial directory services solution that supports SCIM as a protocol level option for managing data stored within the directory, making it easier for developers to build applications that can benefit from the performance and security advantages provided by the UnboundID Directory Server.
In addition, UnboundID will release an extension to its Synchronization Server that makes it possible to synchronize data from existing identity data stores, such as Active Directory, LDAP directories, and RDBMs, to applications that support SCIM as an interface.
“One of the biggest challenges for companies looking to leverage cloud services is how to address the issue of managing user identity data,” said UnboundID Chief Product Officer Andy Spillane. “As the name implies, Simple Cloud Identity Management is being developed, first and foremost, with simplicity in mind. Working on the SCIM initiative with cloud services leaders like Salesforce.com, Cisco, and Google, as well as with other identity management vendors and developers, we have provided real-world solutions that we expect to be adopted before the end of the year.”
With the enhancements announced today, UnboundID is now positioned to provide solutions for both sides of the cloud identity integration problem. This includes synchronizing data from on-premise identity data stores to the cloud and providing a standard interface for managing identity data for cloud service providers. Put simply, this means that the products UnboundID will release in Q4 2011 will provide the technology for users to either send or receive identity data via SCIM.
To learn more about UnboundID and its identity management software solutions, visit http://www.unboundid.com/.