The Liberty Alliance, the consortium developing an open federated identity standard and business tools and guidance for implementing identity-based services, today announced new relationships with six global alliances. Network Applications Consortium (NAC), Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), Open Security Exchange (OSE), PayCircle, SIMalliance and WLAN Smart Card consortium are working collaboratively with the Liberty Alliance, demonstrating that federated identity is a key enabler in everything from mobile payments and on-demand networking to integrating electronic and physical security systems.

"Identity is not an add-on," said Michael Barrett, vice president of privacy and security at American Express and president of the Liberty Alliance. "Many of today's IT limitations exist because identity wasn't adequately built into the foundation of our networks and no one wants to make that mistake in the future. The growing adoption of Liberty's standard clearly demonstrates that federated identity is a top priority across multiple industries."

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Identity is a foundational element of any relationship - both in the physical and virtual world. As identities become inextricably linked to personal attributes, roles, permissions and processes, relationships and the security to protect those relationships will become more complex.

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