San Francisco, CA - April 15, 2003 (RSA Conference) – Today for the first time many major companies will showcase Liberty Alliance-enabled products working together, making it easier for businesses to solve critical IT challenges associated with identity management and offer innovative new web services to customers, partners and employees.

Liberty Alliance’s public interoperability event, being held at this week’s RSA 2003 conference, brings together 20 of the industry’s leading hardware, software, mobile device and service companies. These companies will showcase how Liberty’s Phase 1 specifications for opt-in account linking and simplified sign-on can be used today in numerous business scenarios.

Companies participating in the event are AOL, Communicator Inc, Ericsson, HP, Jabber, Inc., Mycroft, NeuStar, Nokia, Novell, NTT, Ping Identity Corporation, Phaos Technology, PostX, SchlumbergerSema, Sigaba, Sun Microsystems, Symlabs, Trustgenix, Vodafone and Waveset. Each of these demonstrations shows the use of Liberty’s version 1.1 specifications in existing products and services.

Business Impact of the Liberty Alliance Standard

Liberty Alliance is a consortium of more than 160 organizations from across the globe formed to develop open standards for federated network identity management. Since Liberty Alliance released its first set of specifications in July 2002, more than 20 organizations have announced Liberty-enabled products or future plans to build the specifications into systems or services.

The worldwide market for identity management software alone is expected to reach $3.2 billion by 2007*, not including hardware or professional services. Those organizations with an identity management strategy are prepared to lead this growing market and offer valuable, revenue-producing identity-based solutions that in the long-term may catapult their companies ahead of their competitors.

“Identity management impacts all types of transactions – from logging onto an employer’s network to purchasing an item using a mobile phone,” said Michael Barrett, president of the Liberty Alliance Management Board and vice president for Internet Strategy at American Express. “Liberty’s first interoperability demonstration is proof that there is a need for an open identity standard and that Liberty is gaining rapid industry acceptance. It also shows Liberty’s applicability and availability to address challenges and opportunities that businesses face today.”

The Liberty Alliance interoperability demonstration highlights the following four real-world scenarios that Liberty Alliance’s federated identity architecture and simplified sign-on capabilities can bring to life today.

• Minimizing design complexity and easing tired fingers
  Mobile phones are typically equipped with limited data entry capabilities, small keypads and a small screen – all making it difficult to enter names and passwords necessary to identify users or offer personalized services. Ericsson, Nokia, Symlabs, Sun Microsystems, Trustgenix and Vodafone demonstrate in this business-to-consumer scenario how their Liberty-enabled products and services can work together to provide users with simplified sign-on and easy one-click access to personalized services.

• Providing partners with quicker, more trusted access to business information
  In the financial securities industry, fund managers need trusted access to real-time information to make informed investment decisions. However, in today’s world of disparate systems, fund managers have to administer and log into separate accounts with each Wall Street broker or independent services provider, making it difficult and time consuming to access real-time information. Communicator Inc and NeuStar demonstrate in this business-to-business scenario how their use of the Liberty specifications allows fund managers, brokers and service providers to federate identities, deliver and view aggregated information and access their separate accounts in a seamless, secure and controlled manner.

• Lowering administrative costs and improving employee efficiency
  Many employers currently outsource employee services (i.e., medical benefits, payroll, 401K, secure email) to both streamline resources and provide employees with better benefits. However, employers and employees are burdened with cumbersome processes to access, maintain and regularly update information across each of these separate accounts. Communicator Inc, HP, Jabber, Mycroft, Novell, Ping Identity Corporation, Phaos Technology, SchlumbergerSema, Sigaba, Sun Microsystems, Trustgenix and Waveset demonstrate in this business-to-employee scenario how Liberty’s federated architecture provides a more flexible and controlled user experience, while cutting administrative costs.

• Improving consumer convenience and control over personal information
  Most web sites today require users to register and identify themselves every time they access information or services on the site. To remember the plethora of passwords, consumers often use weak, easy-to-guess passwords that they often repeat and use on multiple sites. This is not only inconvenient, but a security risk for the user. AOL, PostX, NTT, Sun Microsystems and Trustgenix demonstrate in this business-to-consumer scenario how their use of the Liberty Alliance specifications allows consumers to choose whether they want to link their accounts, reducing the number of passwords they need to remember, while maintaining control over their personal information.

The Liberty Alliance specifications were developed for interoperability with existing legacy systems, while offering the flexibility to open the door to new technologies and business models. They support both fixed and wireless network devices and utilize open industry standards. The specifications are free to download from the Liberty web site, making it easy for any organization to evaluate how the Liberty Alliance standard can meet their business challenges.

For those interested in downloading the specifications, please visit www.projectliberty.org. For more information on the interoperability demonstrations referenced above or for information on joining the Liberty Alliance, please email info@projectliberty.org.

*IDC, “Worldwide Security 3A Software Forecast 2003-2007: The Transition to Identity Management,” February 2003.

About the Liberty Alliance Project
The Liberty Alliance Project (www.projectliberty.org) is a consortium formed to develop open standards for federated network identity management and identity-based services. The Alliance is made up of 160 members, representing a worldwide cross-section of organizations ranging from educational institutions and government organizations, to service providers and financial institutions, to technology firms and wireless providers. Federated identity will help drive the next generation of the Internet, offering businesses and consumers convenience and choice. Membership is open to all commercial and non-commercial organizations.

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CONTACTS:

Tiffany Van Gorder
Ketchum PR for Liberty Alliance
415-984-6192
tiffany.vangorder@ketchum.com

Michelle Vance
Ketchum PR for Liberty Alliance
415-984-6170
michelle.vance@ketchum.com