Internet2 releases authorization software

released July 15, 2003

Internet2 has released Shibboleth 1.0, the first production version of software implementing a leading online authorization architecture. Shibboleth, which is standards-based and open source, incorporates active privacy management while enabling interinstitutional sharing of Web resources subject to access controls.

Blackboard, WebCT and WebAssign, course management software providers, and EBSCO, JSTOR and SFX, online information companies, have begun to incorporate Shibboleth technology into their products and services. Shibboleth has been widely tested, with more than 20 leading universities and research institutions participating in pilot deployments. SWITCH, the Swiss national research and education networking organization, has selected Shibboleth as its official authentication and authorization architecture and the National Science Digital Library (NSDL), a major educational initiative by the National Science Foundation, will use Shibboleth to allow access to customized or restricted content and services.

Shibboleth emphasizes federated administration and access control based on attributes rather than identity to provide a scalable and extensible framework for interinstitutional authorization. The Shibboleth software was developed under the auspices of the National Science Foundation's Middleware Initiative (NMI).

Institutions involved in the pilot program include: Carnegie Mellon University, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Georgetown University, London School of Economics, New York University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State, University of Colorado, University of Michigan, University of Texas Health Center at Houston, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin, Madison, University of California Office of the President, Blackboard Inc., EBSCO, JSTOR, OCLC, SFX, WebAssign and WebCT.

Shibboleth is an Internet2 project designed to develop architectures, policy structures, practical technologies and open source implementations. Shibboleth 1.0 has been tested with the Apache Web server on Red Hat Linux versions 7.2 and 7.3, and on Solaris 2.8, with Microsoft Windows2000 versions for both Apache and IIS expected to be available soon. For more information about the Internet2 Middleware Initiative and Shibboleth, visit: http://shibboleth.internet2.edu/.

 

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