This new service is to extend capabilities Microsoft plans to offer with Active Directory Federation Services, or ADFS, which is set to ship with Windows Server 2003 R2. STS will offer extended federation and privacy support, and integrated...
The initiative also includes the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School and Parity Communications, a company developing "social commerce" software that has been operating in stealth mode.
Microsoft's Active Directory - so the companies' software has integrated sign-on and federated identity management mechanisms. Microsoft has also buried the hatchet with Sun in a partnership that includes sign-on and identity management software.
As part of the switch De Montfort will also be deploying Novell's eDirectory identity management software for secure single-sign on facilities for the university's students and staff. The university had been running a disparate mix of Microsoft...
Of course, there are tools and workarounds that allow some Windows applications to be run in a Linux environment or in thin-client access mode, but if you end up employing these excessively you are unlikely to be meeting your original objectives.
This has come about because of a changing emphasis within this environment from pure cost-saving towards the provision of identity-based security. This allows just about anything to have its own identity and individual profile.