Federation vs. Synchronization

Synchronization of Identities and their distribution to many different identity stores is a common approach in IAM. However, Federation is gaining momentum massively – and that will further increase with the growth in Cloud Computing. However, even there you’ll find synchronization approaches, like the ones supported by the upcoming SCIM standard. Finding the balance between Federation and Synchronization is an art of itself. In this session, you’ll learn how to deal with that.

In our advisories we’ve learned that customers in practice have a much broader understanding of Cloud Computing than in theory. In theory, Identity Federation is limited to some few standards like SAML, Shibboleth, and some others. In practice, federation is understood as a much broader concept which involves sometimes proprietary integration with the “login” into social networks. It includes classical Web Access Management. And it requires Federation in different ways. Understanding the different concepts and approaches and finding your path through the jungle of opportunities is a challenge – this session is your compass.