Windows CardSpace, Wachovia, Corillian and Arcot Systems at RSA 2007
Can you believe that it was one year ago yesterday that we unveiled Windows CardSpace (then codenamed "InfoCard") to the worldwide security and identity audience at RSA 2006? It's been a pretty wild ride over the last 12 months!
Last week, San Francisco hosted RSA 2007 and saw something of a turning point in Microsoft's presence at the show. Gone was the BillG keynote & demo-fest! As part of Bill's transition to a new phase in his life, he is handing over future RSA keynotes to Craig Mundie (Microsoft's Chief Research and Strategy Officer). This year saw Bill and Craig on stage together discussing our vision of "Anywhere Access" and the key initiatives we have for evolving network and personal identity protection.
The expo hall was also buzzing with new technology announcements from the several hundred companies exhibiting their wares. It was interesting to note just how much the industry is refocusing its efforts around overcoming threats to identity, authorization and activity tracking rather than pure "security" per se.
Whilst I didn't get to spend nearly as much time on our stand as I'd have liked, The Fearsome Cowboy and Stuart Celarier (now nicknamed Celery Stu), along with periodic visits from our friends at Arcot systems, spent practically every second that the stand was open walking a constant throng of attendees through an awesome demo of what online banking *could* be like using CardSpace for sign-in! The demo showed Wachovia's website running on Corillian's online banking platform using Arcot Systems' security engine to generate managed cards and process token requests.
Whilst this demo is a proof of concept right now, it indicates a clear, decisive step forward by partners like Wachovia, Corillian and Arcot who understand the significance and value that CardSpace offers. This support was further highlighted by the simultaneous announcements that the next release of Corillian's Voyager platform will integrate support for signing in using Windows CardSpace and that Arcot Systems is now shipping support for Windows CardSpace within its WebFort suite. As if a cool demo wasn't enough, public announcements of support from two key ISV's was just icing on the cake! J
We engaged in many fascinating discussions with a vast number of people – thank you for stopping by and sharing your time and thoughts with us. To those of you from whom I collected cards … I'll be in touch shortly! Bear with me! J.
If RSA 2006 was great, RSA 2007 was fantastic. I can't wait for RSA 2008! ;)
