Microsoft on the verge?

My Google news net caught this article for me today - Microsoft wary as security, identity integration plan lags - by John Fontana that's definitely worth a read.

Microsoft is on the verge of finally providing some pieces of software to back up its ambitious plan to integrate its security and identity technologies, but the company admits it is moving slower than it had anticipated.

Progress towards this goal, as many of us have already blogged, has been slow. One glimmer of movement in the right direction was last year's merger of the security and identity teams. I also think that the upcoming "Geneva" - now Windows Identity Foundation - will be pivotal for Microsoft and the industry.

In John Fontana's article there's an interesting quote from Bob Muglia I'd like to highlight:

We (Microsoft) don't see ourselves as providing the only solution that an enterprise customer needs for security...

I think most customers would agree with this. In fact, Bob really needed to add "and identity" to that statement. Nearly every customer I meet with has multiple identity management products deployed. In fact, at one customer I recently met with they had three different self-service password reset solutions deployed. Many of the customers I meet with have also deployed Microsoft's identity lifecycle product too (MMS, MIIS or ILM). When I quiz them on what scenarios they are solving with the Microsoft product the most typical response is "GAL sync" yet the company has also deployed a non-Microsoft identity product or framework for the enterprise.

In talking with these teams I have found that in many cases the "Windows", "Active Directory" or "Microsoft" team at an enterprise holds enough power or influence to dictate what is used in their own environment but not enough power or influence at the corporate level to dictate what is used for identity management.

Bob Muglia states that he doesn't see Microsoft providing the only solution that an enterprise customer needs for security. I don't see Microsoft providing the only solution that an enterprise customer needs for identity either.

Technorati Tags:
identity management, Geneva, ForeFront, Microsoft, MSFT, Windows Identity Foundation