Azure Identity Management Updated

A premium edition of Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) became generally available in Apr. 2014. Azure AD Premium adds features that will make it easier for an organization to integrate and manage on-premises Windows Server Active Directory Domain Services (AD) with Microsoft-hosted Azure AD. It will now be easier to synchronize and federate the two directories, support single sign-on (SSO) to Microsoft and third-party Software as a Service (SaaS) hosted applications, support user self-service identity management, and provide better insights into an organization’s identity management activity. However, some Azure AD Premium features are not yet supported for production use.

Azure AD Facilitates SSO for Hosted Services

Azure AD is an online identity and access management service hosted by Microsoft. Like AD, its established on-premises counterpart, Azure AD provides directory services, identity governance, and application access management. Unlike AD, Azure AD is a multitenant service, designed to work with a variety of hosted applications from Microsoft, such as Office 365, as well as an increasing number of third-party hosted SaaS applications, such as Salesforce or Box. (See the chart “Comparing Windows Server Active Directory and Azure Active Directory“.)