Microsoft rivals have been staking out a claim to the identity management space -- a critical component of Web services

Microsoft rivals have been staking out a claim to the identity management space -- a critical component of Web services -- for about a year, but the Redmond, Wash. software titan won't concede the space without a fight and stepped up to the plate Wednesday with a new platform for identity and access management. The firm Wednesday released to manufacturing Microsoft Identity Integration Server (MIIS) 2003, built on the foundation of its Metadirectory Services 3.0 offering, saying that it will allow customers to integrate information from multiple repositories for a single, complete view of user information. Because Web services essentially expose APIs that allow users to drill into back-end databases, identity and authentification controls are essential to keeping critical data secure and only allowing access to authorized users. This led Microsoft rival Sun Microsystems to form the Liberty Alliance Project in 2001. Created by Sun and 32 other companies, the Liberty Alliance has created specifications for the interoperability of open authentication systems. Sun rallied the Liberty Alliance as a response to a move by Microsoft to turn its Passport system into a "federated authentication system," potentially capturing the center of the nascent Web services market.