On 12 August 2003, Oblix, which develops identity-based security solutions, announced that Southwest Airlines has completed a large-scale implementation of the Oblix NetPoint identity management and access control product. The NetPoint implementation uses single sign-on based on the SAML standard to secure communications within Southwest's internal networks and with its suppliers and other external business partners.

Southwest is one of the first to use SAML-enabled identity management on a large scale to perform cross-domain trust. This implementation also marks an early step in the movement toward federated identity management. However, this approach appears to deliver many of the real-world benefits of federated identity management without the use of additional technologies or standards, such as Liberty and WS-Federation.

The Oblix system enables Southwest to vouch for the identity of an employee who accesses external partners' networks (for example, an aircraft mechanic looking for technical documentation). The partner grants session access to the Southwest employee without performing authentication on its own site. With this approach, Southwest enjoys enhanced employee productivity, and the external partner does not need to manage credentials for large numbers of outside users.

According to some estimates, identity management solutions deliver an average three-year return on investment of as much as 300 percent. The use of standards such as SAML may drive up return on investment still further by offering cost savings for security administration, help desk support and application development. Through 2005, 80 percent of federated identity projects will be simple cross-domain trust initiatives between two enterprises with established partnerships (0.8 probability). SAML will be the leading standard for business-to-business single sign-on through 2006 (0.8 probability).

Bottom Line: Enterprises that manage large numbers of external identities should consider SAML-based cross-domain trust.

Analytical Sources: Ray Wagner and Roberta Witty, Gartner Research

Written by Terry Allan Hicks, Gartner News

Recommended Reading and Related Research

• "ROI Drives Identity and Access Management Implementation" — Identity and access management systems show great promise for enterprises that need to control account and access rights. By Roberta J. Witty
• "Banks Largely Disinterested in Passport and Liberty" — A Gartner survey shows virtually no bank interest in the leading identity services. By Avivah Litan and John Pescatore

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