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E-commerce Single Sign-On Not Dead Yet
FullyIonized writes "A few years ago Microsoft's Passport technology made headlines as Microsoft predicted e-commerce nirvana and conspiracists predicted a new Big Brother. Not to be outdone, Sun spearheaded the Liberty Alliance . Years later, I still don't have a single sign-on, not that that's a bad thing. Enter Andre Durand who started his first business with BBS software, then headed up Jabber, and now has started Ping Identity. The big distinction: the federated identity software is open-source. The Denver Post has the story."
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Nothing to see here
High-stakes venture
Funding quest a gamble in new Internet economy
By Ross Wehner
Denver Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 28, 2004 -
Andre Durand adjusts his black cowboy hat and eyes a roomful of tech-industry players milling around blackjack tables at Broomfield's Omni Interlocken Resort.
It's casino night at Digital ID World, a high-level Internet conference that costs $1,795 per person. Durand, 36, is a founder of the conference and has a lot riding on it this year.
He, like many other Internet entrepreneurs, is fighting to come back four years after the tech economy meltdown.
Everyone here knows Durand as a whiz kid who started two multi-million-dollar companies before he was 32. But the money came easier back in the 1990s.
Durand's firm, Ping Identity, is on the verge of launching software that could make Internet commerce easier and more secure. Companies such as Microsoft, IBM and Hewlett-Packard are chasing the same solution.
But he needs a lot of money just to keep swimming in that shark tank - at least $8 million in venture capital. He needs the help of the people in this room.
Nearby is Thor Hauge, an investor from Nokia Innovent, the venture capital arm of Nokia, which invested $250,000 in Ping early on.
Durand then spies Bob Blakely, IBM's point man for computer security. He's in charge of protecting some of the largest networks in the world. One deal with IBM could transform Ping from a tiny startup into a recognized industry leader.
It's time to get this party rolling, Durand thinks.
He leaves his gin and tonic at the bar and heads toward an electronic bull, set up for the event. Real bull riders need an eight-second ride. Durand mounts the bull and hangs on for nine glorious seconds, arms flying above his head, before flying onto the mat. When he springs to his feet, people applaud.
Durand heads to the cocktail bar, reaches behind it and grabs a brand-new $200 Nokia N-Gage. Any self-respecting geek knows it's the coolest combination cellphone, e-mail device and video game around.
Durand slaps backs at every table and offers the N-Gage to whoever stays on the bull the longest. Within 10 minutes, there is a steady stream of people hooting and hollering and getting tossed into the air.
Even Blakely rides the bull. But Craig Wirths, an old friend of Durand's, wins the N-Gage with a 33-second ride.
Andre Durand is standing in the casino of the new Internet economy, where having a great idea isn't good enough anymore. To succeed now, Durand must also become a true chief executive, someone who can execute a business plan and devise the DNA of a company that will last.
Like Microsoft, for example.
The next day, Durand will help unveil Ping's first software product at Digital ID World. Then he and a Ping board member will spend two weeks in California's Silicon Valley meeting with a dozen venture capital firms who chew and spit out guys like Durand every day.
A lot is riding on the next few weeks.
Payday for first company
A communications firm that Durand began when he was 25 was acquired for $10 million in 1998.
Durand has worked insane hours for most of his adult life. He launched Durand Communications in his hometown of Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1993 at the age of 25. He worked from dawn to nearly midnight seven days a week. The company sold software to people who posted online bulletin boards, before the rise of the Internet
His drive paid off in 1998 when Durand sold the company to Denver-based Webb Interactive Services for $10 million in a stock swap. After Durand paid off his angel investors, he was left with more than $1 million in Webb Interactive stock.
Part of the deal was that Durand keep working with Webb. He drove from California to Denver with a bike and all of his possessions, which fit neatly in three boxes.
The first person he met in Denver was his future wife, Kim Gunning, who worked at We
Why do you have so many different passwords? Just come up with a few sufficienly complex ones. I've got 4 different passwords that I use, each having their own "security level". Slashdot is a level 1, since I don't care about someone stealing my account here, whereas my account for World of Warcraft is a level 4 :-P
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'.
Incase somebody is wondering where the open-source implementation of Ping ID is hiding, it's here:
Sourceid.org
Why is there no link to the actual ping identity website in the submission?
There is a sucessful SSO mechanism used by the education and health sectors in the UK. It has around 3 million users and over 250 target resources. It's called Athens and has been around for years. Eduserv Athens website
The Denver Post seemed to help Ping hype up its open source roots, but I was at the Digital ID World confrence and the solution that impressed me as both a consumer and site developer was SXIP (pronounced skip). This is a PKI-like solution where any web sit you log on to can be a Home site and any web site you want to access without loging on to can be a Member site. Once I've logged on to the homesite of my choice, member sites can easily get any info about me that I've allowed from my home site with homesite lookup and encryption handled by the SXIP root site. Kind of like MS Passport, but I choose exactly who gets what information and I only have to establish an account with my favorite login site (such as, say, slashdot).