Aimed at large companies and independent software vendors, the tool is
designed to help developers learn how to make use of the Liberty
specification, and also to let them test applications in an emulated
Liberty environment, said John Fanelli, Sun director for network
identity and portal products.
Launched in July, version 1.0 of the Liberty specification should allow
users to sign on once to a Web site or network application, and then
visit other sites without having to re-enter their password. Later
versions will also store a credit card number, address and other
information, making it more convenient to shop and use other services on
the Web, proponents say.
The specification was developed by the Liberty Alliance Project, a group
led by Sun that also includes prominent businesses such as United
Airlines Inc., American Express Co. and General Motors Corp. It was
developed as an alternative to Microsoft Corp.'s Passport, which
provides single sign-on access to Web sites that support that
technology.
Called the Interoperability Prototype for Liberty, Sun pitched the tool
as the first open-source implementation of the Liberty Alliance
specification based on Java. Applications tested with it will be
compatible with Sun's Sun ONE Identity Server 6.0 product, which is in
beta now and will be Sun's first commercial product with built-in
support for the technology when it is launched later this year.
"(The tool) will allow for migration to the productized version of
Liberty, which we will deliver with Sun ONE Identity Server 6.0,"
Fanelli said.
The tool is available now for download from the Web, at http://
developer.java.sun.com/developer/codesamples/liberty.html/. It consists
of sample Java source code libraries implementing the Liberty version
1.0 specification, and is not designed for commercial deployment,
according to information on the Web site. It is licensed under the Sun
Microsystems Open Source License.
