Breaking News - Security:

Intel, Oracle, Others Join Liberty Alliance As Sponsor Members

The Liberty Alliance, a global consortium developing an open federated identity standard and business tools for implementing federated identity and identity-based Web services, announced that seven organizations have joined Liberty Alliance as sponsor members, including the world's largest chip maker and the United States' leader in providing political information to American businesses. Additionally, three current Liberty Alliance members have upgraded to become sponsor members.

Liberty Alliance's new sponsor members include the Business Industry Political Action Committee (BIPAC), Gamefederation, Intel, Kayak Interactive, Mobile Telephone Networks (MTN), Oracle and Sharp Laboratories of America. Computer Associates, Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) and Trustgenix have upgraded their member status to a sponsor level. These new members bring to the Liberty Alliance a wealth of knowledge across industries, from telecom and enterprise software to gaming, entertainment, consumer electronics and e-government. With the addition of these new members, Liberty's global reach now extends to six continents.

"Constant infusion of new members helps drive this industry forward and furthers Liberty's goals and vision of building an organization that represents the interests of a diverse group of companies doing business throughout the world," said Michael Barrett, president of the Liberty Alliance Management Board and vice president of privacy and security for American Express. "Every wave of new members brings with it additional expertise and market insight that not only benefits new and existing members, but also other companies seeking to find solutions to the security and implementation demands inherent in identity management."

Companies are beginning to reap the benefits of investing in a federated architecture, and recognize the rapid rate at which Liberty specifications are being adopted. As sponsors, members receive access to the latest federated identity technical specifications as well as business and policy guidelines, which helps them to create new business opportunities, increase security and reduce deployment costs. Liberty has a history of success delivering standards that meet early adopters' real-world requirements, and this plays a critical role in helping members to solidify business deals.

Continued Traction Within The Gaming And Entertainment Industries

New Liberty Alliance members include electronics, gaming and entertainment leaders Gamefederation, Kayak Interactive and Sharp Laboratories of America. The addition of these companies demonstrates Liberty's broad reach into diverse markets, and the value vertical market leaders see in being able to quickly implement Liberty specifications into their work. As consumers transition to digital entertainment products and a fully networked household, demand for new functionality and personalized services, such as entertainment content and customized television programming, continues to rise. Liberty's technical specifications and business guidelines will help to ease the deployment of mobile and digital devices across disparate networks.

Additionally, a new gaming services group has been formed to investigate opportunities for the game user, gaming industry and network operators in developing and deploying Liberty Alliance compliant services. This will help to rapidly move Liberty specifications into the gaming industry.