Amid the growing buzz around identity management, Microsoft is trying to pull together a platform that would offer corporations entry into a new generation of end-user management, security and regulatory compliance.

The software giant is tuning its client, servers and gateway software to align with the basic tenets of identity management, namely authentication, user management, access management and directory services. So far, the existing pieces lack cohesion and some aspects, such as Web-based access management, are missing altogether.

Thankfully for Microsoft, many competitors are facing similar construction projects. Additionally, corporate customers are far from deploying expansive identity-management platforms, preferring to focus on projects such as Web-based single sign-on.

By John Fontana at NewsFactor.

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