At the center of the issue is the difficulty of sharing users' authentication and authorization information among security systems.
Most experts agree that XML offers the solution.
Bowstreet, Commerce One, Jamcracker, Sun Microsystems, VeriSign, and webMethods all are backing the specification. Bill Bartow, Netegrity's VP of marketing, says S2ML will be submitted to standards groups by Dec. 15. Earlier this month, Securant unveiled AuthXML and invited the industry to help shape the specification and support its submission to standards organizations by year's end. Britta Glade, director of marketing for Securant, says more than 50 companies support AuthXML, including PricewaterhouseCoopers and VeriSign. Chris Haddad, engineer and manager at Atlanta human-resources service provider Employease Inc., welcomes the initiatives.