Patent ID: 8261329

Claim:
A method for securely managing calendar information across corporate boundaries, the method comprising: providing a central trust management capability to manage security and trust relationships between a plurality of corporate entities; responsive to a request for availability of a first user having a schedule maintained at a first calendar application maintained on a first computer of a first corporate entity by a second user having a schedule maintained by a second calendar application maintained on a second computer of a second corporate entity, determining whether a trust relationship exists between the first corporate entity and the second corporate entity; responsive to a positive determination by the central trust management capability of the existence of a trust relationship between the first corporate entity and the second corporate entity, providing availability information of the first user to the second user; responsive to a data request concerning a scheduled meeting of the first user by the second user, accessing security and identity information of the second user; using the security and identity information of the second user according to a security policy to determine whether the second user is granted access to the requested information; and responsive to a positive determination that the second user is granted access to the requested data, providing the requested information; wherein the central trust management capability comprises an application maintained on a third computer that includes a database of trust information characterizing security and trust relationships between the first corporate entity and the second corporate entity.