News and information about InCommon Academy offerings

[Dean Woodbeck <>]

Microsoft Becomes InCommon Affiliate
Support of Standards-Based Approach to Identity Management the Goal

ANN ARBOR, Mich., and REDMOND, Wash. – July 27, 2010 – Microsoft Corp., a 
worldwide leader in software, services and solutions, has become an InCommon 
Affiliate. 

InCommon is the U.S. trust federation in higher education operated by 
Internet2. Through InCommon, higher education institutions and their partners 
offer access to contracted and collaborative services – in a privacy- and 
security-enhanced method – to faculty, researchers, students and staff. The 
Affiliate Program provides the research and education community with a way to 
connect with Affiliate partners, who are able to help build the necessary 
underlying infrastructure on campus that supports federated access.

“InCommon and Microsoft share the belief that a standards-based approach to 
federated identity will enable broad adoption of Shibbloleth, other 
economically sustainable solutions, and trustworthy collaboration for 
colleges and universities around the world,” said Cameron Evans, chief 
technology officer for Microsoft’s U.S. Education business. “As part of 
InCommon’s Affiliate program, Microsoft will enable institutions to connect, 
share and work in ways that respect the privacy of people and data both 
on-premise and in the cloud using Microsoft technology.” 

The Microsoft strategy for identity management delivers a comprehensive 
solution to manage identities, credentials, and identity-based access 
policies across Windows and heterogeneous environments.

“Many InCommon participants rely on Microsoft software as part of their 
identity and access management systems,” said John Krienke, chief operating 
officer of InCommon. “Plus Microsoft is also an InCommon participant. The 
company’s support as an InCommon affiliate demonstrates its commitment to the 
community as the federation continues on its trajectory of growth.”

Microsoft’s identity and access management solution is built on Active 
Directory, a directory service in Windows Server, and also includes the 
following technologies and services:

•       Active Directory Federation Services 2.0: a security token service 
for information technology administrators that is interoperable with 
Shibboleth.
•       Windows Identity Foundation: These services enable Microsoft .NET 
developers to externalize identity logic from their application.
•       Forefront Identity Manager (FIM) 2010: This provides IT professionals 
with tools to address day-to-day tasks, such as delegating administration and 
creating workflows for common identity management tasks. In addition, FIM 
2010 is built on a .NET and WS-* based foundation for developers to build 
more customized and extensible solutions.
•       Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010: SharePoint uses claims-based 
authentication, which provides support for SAML 2.0 and Shibboleth, to 
connect institutional identity systems—as well as, Active Directory, 
LDAPv2-based directories, and application-specific databases—and user-centric 
identity models like LiveID, OpenID, and InfoCard systems.
•       Microsoft Cloud Services: With cloud applications available for a 
wide range of devices, from PCs to laptops to phones, academic organizations 
can provide collaboration portals, and support long-distance and 
group-learning environments.
•       Microsoft 
Live@edu:
 This is the company’s enterprise-class hosted e-mail, communications and 
collaboration solution for students, faculty and staff. The service can be 
extended to an institution’s identity platform for access to the cloud, to 
enable access to 
Live@edu
 services, and provide the benefits of full Shibboleth federation support.
•       Microsoft Consulting Services: This is the consulting arm of 
Microsoft, which helps organizations successfully install and maintain 
federated identity technologies from Microsoft. 

For more information, and a list of current affiliates, go to 
www.incommon.org/affiliate.  

ABOUT MICROSOFT
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in 
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize 
their full potential. For more information, see www.microsoft.com. 

ABOUT InCOMMON
The InCommon Federation, operated by Internet2, provides a 
privacy-preserving, secure method for higher education institutions and their 
partners to offer single sign-on convenience to their faculty, researchers, 
students and staff. Through InCommon, individuals no longer need to maintain 
multiple passwords and usernames and online service providers no longer need 
to maintain user accounts. The educational institution manages the level of 
privacy and security for its constituents. For more information, see 
www.incommon.org.