Middleware Announcements

[Renee Frost <>]

Shibbing News (June 2004): Periodic news and announcements about the 
Internet2/MACE Shibboleth Project. For more information, please visit the 
main Shibboleth page at http://shibboleth.internet2.edu/

* Shib Release v1.2 Available
* Elsevier Update
* ProQuest Request
* Shib-Enabled Applications and Resources Web page
* University of Texas System ITSLC Strategic Goals include Shibboleth
* JISC Core Middleware Program Announcement
* InCommon Federation Update
* Scott Cantor at Burton Group Catalyst Conference
* CAMP Shibboleth Reminder


* Shib v1.2
Shib release v1.2 is now available from the Shibboleth Project web page 
[http://shibboleth.internet2.edu/].  This release is backwardly compatible 
with two previous releases of Shib v1.0 and Shib v1.1. It includes: 
increased configuration flexibility in a complex multi-federation world; 
enhancements that are specific to the Shibboleth Target; enhancements to 
the Shibboleth Origin; and improvements to operational support. Work is 
underway on both a native java target implementation and a web-based ARP 
GUI, but neither of these is included with the v1.2 release.

* Elsevier Update
As further information on the previous announcement: Elsevier has 
implemented Shibboleth support in production ScienceDirect, and is 
conducting a pilot roll-out with 5 universities during Spring/Summer 2004 
before opening up wider availability to all customers.

* ProQuest Request
ProQuest Information and Learning has completed its planning cycle for the 
rest of 2004. A Shibboleth pilot is in the near term plans. They are now 
ready to start working with one or two origin sites to fully develop 
requirements in the context of an initial pilot project. If you are 
interested please contact Rodger Miller <Rodger.Miller at il.proquest.com> 
and please carbon copy Steven Carmody <Steven_Carmody at brown.edu> and 
George Brett <ghb at internet2.edu>.


* Shib-Enabled Applications and Resources Web page
In response to suggestions from our members we have published a web page 
with Shib-Enabled Applications and Resources Information at 
http://shibboleth.internet2.edu/seas.html. This page is a list of 
organizations/services that are committed, interested, or have been 
requested to Shibboleth enable their services. Information includes 
organization URL, contact, and status of Shibboleth implementation 
(planning, development, testing, and production). If your organization 
would like to be added to this page please contact George Brett <ghb at 
internet2.edu>


* University of Texas System ITSLC Strategic Goals include Shibboleth
"The approved statement of direction from the April 27, 2004 meeting of the 
SLC:
	'The University of Texas System Information Technology Strategic 
Leadership Council agrees that deployment of a robust, secure, 
interoperable infrastructure for identity management in support of 
inter-institutional collaboration is a strategic goal. This infrastructure 
will be based upon the available standards and best practices:
        - LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) compliant directory 
services,
        - eduperson schema as promulgated by EDUCAUSE and Internet2,
        - utperson schema (to be developed),
        - inter-institutional access control utilizing Internet2 Shibboleth, 
and
	- consistent institutional definitions and identity management trust 
policies for students,
        faculty, and staff as well as sponsored affiliates.'"

* JISC Core Middleware Program Announcement
Shibboleth is included in 8 out of the 15 recently announced JISC projects 
in the Core Middleware: Technology Development Program in response to 
Circular 01/04 [http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=c01_04]. Thirty higher 
education and further education institutions, services and commercial 
suppliers including Internet2 MACE-Dir are involved as partners within the 
program. JISC is the Joint Information Systems Committee and funded by the 
UK Further and Higher education funding councils.  A full list of 
participating project partners is available at 
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=middleware_announce.  The Core 
Middleware Program page is at 
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=programme_middleware


* InCommon Federation Update
InCommon is currently working with a small group of invited origins and 
targets who are assisting in vetting and finalizing the detailed 
requirements, processes, and documents for the federation. Once this roll 
out phase is complete, InCommon will go into production and begin accepting 
applications for participation.


* Scott Cantor at Burton Group Catalyst Conference
Scott Cantor will be speaking on Shibboleth at the Burton Group Catalyst 
Conference North America 2004: Evolving Enterprise Infrastructure - 
Networks, Security, Identity Management, Application Platforms. The 
conference will be San Diego, July 21-23. For more information see: 
http://www.burtongroup.com/catalyst/catna04/


* CAMP Shibboleth Reminder
CAMP Shibboleth Implementation Workshop -- Broomfield, CO, June 28-30

The CAMP Shibboleth Implementation Workshop provides CIOs, IT architects, 
directors, technical librarians, technical staff, and others concerned with 
sharing resources among institutions the opportunity to come together to 
discuss the planning, policy, and federation requirements associated with 
implementing Shibboleth, as well as the technical specifics of deploying it.

To get the most out of the workshop, participants should understand the 
concepts of or have experience in implementing enterprise directory and 
authentication systems and related policy and management issues. This event 
is sponsored by the National Science Foundation Middleware 
Initiative-Enterprise and Desktop Integration Technologies (NMI-EDIT) 
Consortium: EDUCAUSE, Internet2, and SURA. Additional support was provided 
by the National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreement NSF 02-028, 
ANI-0123937.

For more information check the web site: 
http://www.educause.edu/conference/nmi/2004/camp042/