Joe Poon

At the Burton Group Catalyst Conference in San Francisco last week, I had the pleasure of tending a booth in Microsoft’s Hospitality suite to spread the good word about Information Card Ruby. The booths centered on the theme of identity, with great representation from companies and leaders in this space. The excitement and activity around information cards was quite inspiring. For instance, I had an interesting discussion with a participant from the insurance industry whose clients are primarily senior citizens. The intuitive nature of the information card experience is of interest, as providing an information card from your identity selector at a website closely parallels the real world scenario of providing a piece of ID from your wallet at the supermarket. Moreover, one less username + password to remember not only appeals to seniors, but myself included! There was also interest from a wide spectrum of organizations, including a college administrator who was interested in the applicability of information card authentication for his students and staff. Many others wanted to understand more fully managed card scenarios and wished to see major sites adopting information cards. Understandably so, when more major sites adopt information cards it will provide the confidence, knowledge and momentum for other interested parties to follow. Having said that, there are impressive sandbox/demo sites available to give users a feel for the information card experience, including the nicely done Fabrikam Friends. And finally, I was impressed by Gemalto’s booth which showcased a modified Windows CardSpace client to store your information cards on a smart card. This allows you to take your information cards with you wherever you go. Kim Cameron, which I had the pleasure of meeting at Burton, nicely summarizes Gemalto’s offering here. Overall, the activity and curiosity around information cards was great to see – definitely interesting times in the identity space.