Description

The Core Identifier Workgroup is a joint initiative of the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), the Network Applications Consortium (NAC), and The Open Group. Its mission is to set the stage for wide-spread usage of a common, standard way of representing identities of people and things.

IT systems rely heavily on the concept of identity. For any given IT system, this includes the need to identify users, resources, and a variety of other 'things of interest' to the system. It is recognized that different types of IT systems have different perspectives of what constitutes a 'thing of interest'and how such things should be identified. However, it is also recognized that there are broad categories of IT systems thatshare a common view of 'things of interest' and of the essential nature of how those things are identified. Where the systems differ is in the format and structure used to represent such things.

Our vision is twofold. First, a framework exists that allows for the grouping of related concepts of identity into useful categories. Second, for a number of widely implemented categories, a common format and structure for the representation of identifiers is specified in standards and adopted by makers of IT systems. This standardization provides a reduction in complexity, leading to increased usage, and improved interoperability and reliability with reduced costs.

Our anaysis of the problem is published as the Business Scenario: Identifiers in the Enterprise.