The Identity Management Dilemma

By Michael Cherry

Identity data is the information about people, computers, and services that directories and databases store. For example, a person’s identity data could include their name, e-mail address, building address, phone number, title, and salary, and this identity data could be stored in the network directory, the e-mail system, and the human resources system.

The identity management dilemma springs from several facts:

• Some directories expose the identity data they store only through a proprietary interface, especially legacy directories implemented prior to the emergence of directory standards such as the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).
• Identity data is frequently duplicated in multiple directories and, over time, tends to get out of sync.
• Administrators have to manage identity data in more and more places as the company deploys new platforms and applications.
• There is no single view of all the identity data in all of the directories for either applications