Bruce Schneier has posted an interesting prediction wherein he thinks that the RSA Conference "will shrink like a punctured balloon." Beyond the hyperbole, his point is an important one: Security should be infrastructure, and, as such, not something that we have to spend so much time explaining (badly). Indeed, as security becomes infrastructure, the need to talk about it should slowly fade into obscurity.
The same can be said of identity. Identity *should* be infrastructure. And as infrastructure, identity should be an enabling technology. Security is one (ONE) of the benefits identity should enable. (Yes, security is a benefit derived from identity.) Compliance is another benefit enabled by identity. Its about time that we (the identity community) move past having only those two arguments for implementing identity as infrastructure.
Schneier's piece combined with a recent Forrester report that argues that "Enterprise 2.0" spending will reach 4.6 billion by 2013 should serve as a signpost. As I've said in this space before, SharePoint was the great unwritten IT story of last year. Using identity to make collaborative environments more secure, compliant and, well, *collaborative* should be the big story for 2008. Indeed, webinars by the Liberty Alliance (around these topics) and groups like the Data Portability group should help make it so. And yet, when I review the list of exhibitors for this week's Web 2.0 expo, there is a noticeable lack of identity vendors.
Why is that? No, really, I'm asking. Why is that?
Have identity companies gotten trapped in their own messaging? Are they not hearing what their customers are saying? Is "security" the only language they speak? If that's really true, then I'm just disappointed. So many of the really smart people that I know work inside of these identity companies - and if they're gotten stuck, then we're seeing the "innovator's dilemma" writ large.
Can identity bust out of its "security rut" and join the enterprise 2.0 spending wave? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Hi Eric, I'm Sanjay, formerly Program Manager for Active Directory Security at Microsoft Corporation. Came across your blog and found your question rather interesting. IMHO, the notion of identity is fundamental to security, but not larger than security itself, for while the need to enable collaboration can drive security, the means to facilitate secure collaboration are essential, and are delivered by the security infrastructure. Thanks, Sanjay Founder & CEO, Paramount Defenses Inc www.paramountdefenses.com