The Liberty Alliance Project, a group committed to developing open, interoperable specifications for network identity, announced today five new sponsor members. The Liberty Alliance also announced two new membership levels in response to growing interest in the Alliance from corporations, not-for-profits and government organizations.
The Liberty Alliance plans to release the first phase of its specification this summer. The phase one specification will create a federated network identity and authentication sharing mechanism that will interoperate with existing identification systems and network access devices.
New Liberty Alliance Members
The new sponsor members represent major companies and innovative start-ups from the U.S., Europe and Japan. The companies are: Cingular Wireless, i2 Technologies Inc., Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, SAP and Wave Systems Inc. Sponsor companies are able to attend and vote in any of the various expert groups within the Alliance, focusing on technology, public policy and marketing. They also have the ability to access and comment on draft specifications and proposals prior to public release.
(Please visit www.projectliberty.org for quotes from these and other members on their support for the Liberty Alliance.)
The new and previously announced members span various industries, from travel and transportation, to software and security, to financial services and telecommunications. This range of support demonstrates progress toward the Liberty Alliance’s goal to deliver an identity standard that will offer value to consumers and businesses across different industries.
"One of the greatest benefits of this type of alliance is the combined knowledge, expertise and efforts of diverse companies working together for a common goal," said Eric Dean, chairman of the Liberty Alliance and chief information officer of United Airlines. "The development of interoperable, federated identification standards will have the power to drive e-commerce, enhance relationships among businesses and their customers, vendors and employees – and ultimately evolve computing in every industry."
New Affiliate and Associate Level Membership
The Liberty Alliance also announced today the availability of Affiliate level membership to encourage not-for-profits and government groups to participate in and lend their expertise to the Liberty Alliance. These organizations may join at the Affiliate level free of charge. The Associate membership level was also announced today for companies interested in participating in the Alliance but not wishing to participate at a sponsor level. Associate membership fees are $1,000 USD per year.
"Identity management is a key enabler for the next wave of Internet commerce, yet identity must be federated across businesses, service providers, companies and individuals to deliver global scalability," said Daniel Blum, senior vice president and research director at Burton Group, an IT research and advisory firm focusing on identity management. "Federated identity management can best flourish through open standards made available to the whole industry. The Liberty Alliance is moving in the right direction by becoming one of the few organizations of its kind to open membership levels on generous terms to both public and commercial organizations."
Both Affiliate and Associate members will have the ability to review and comment on draft specifications and other output prior to public release. These members are also invited to attend special meetings held twice a year to receive updates and offer input on the strategic direction of the Liberty Alliance and the progress of the specifications.
The next all-member meeting will be held in the third quarter of this calendar year. For more information on becoming a member or to sign-up, please visit www.projectliberty.org/membership.html.
About the Liberty Alliance Project
The Liberty Alliance Project (www.projectliberty.org) is an alliance formed to develop and deploy open, federated, network identification specifications that support all current and emerging network devices in the digital economy. Federated identity will help drive the next generation of the Internet, offering businesses and consumers convenience, choice and control. Membership is open to all commercial and non-commercial organizations.
Founding members of the Alliance are: American Express, AOL Time Warner, Bell Canada, Citigroup, France Telecom, General Motors, Hewlett-Packard Company, Mastercard International, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, Openwave Systems, RSA Security, Sony Corporation, Sun Microsystems, United Airlines and Vodafone.
Company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Media Contact:
Michelle Vance
Ketchum PR for Liberty Alliance
415-984-6170
www.nokia.com