Info Grid 2005 - Tuesday 27th, 16:20 - JISC Middleware Programme and Shibboleth

4:20
JISC Middleware Programme and Shibboleth
Terry Morrow, JISC Consultant

[background]

JISC Core Middleware
- authentication
- authorization
- directory services
- identifiers

[stuff about Athens - centralised authentication + authZ - technology + infrastructure (people)]

Issues:
* Athens requires management of separate "Athens accounts"
- Recent development (AthensDA) uses local IDs
* Little take-up of Athens outside UK
* Service providers have to license Athens
* Centralised service - relatively high operational costs
* Not well suited to increasingly complex authN scenarios
* Meanwhile other countries moving to SAML/Shib

JISC Core Middleware
- tech devel
- infrastructure

Aims:
- better understanind of middleware
- build working Shib infra
- support takeup of Shib

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/programmme_middleware.html

* programme has funded 15 different projects so far

tech investigated
* PERMIS
* RADIUS
* Shib

Core Middleware - Infrastructure

Aim: establish a working Shib infra

work areas
- Data Centre services (MIMAS and EDINA) to be made Shib compat
- create Athens-Shib gateways
- funding early Shib adopters
- creating service to assist adopt
- estab national UK fed (to be known as *Sparta*)
- liase with suppliers/vendors

Eduserv has written their own IdP

UK Data Archive - SAFARI
- Access control to a wide range of social science survey data

Future

- the UK Federation - what to do
- UK WAYF will be established

Challenges
- cultural change: shifting functions from libraries to computing science