Hello. Paul's point about using a standard authentication system is the
key point here. If many different systems can communicate with each
other using LDAP or a similar protocol, a single sign on environment can
be built. Just to clarify Paul's point about Athens, although it is
possible to use IP authentication with Athens, it is accompanied with a
username and password and so this solution wouldn't be useful in a
single sign on environment.
However, it is possible to integrate Athens locally into your own
network to form part of a single sign on environment. The technology is
called Athens Devolved Authentication (AthensDA), and you can read more
about it at
http://www.athensams.net/development/devolved_authentication/. In a
nutshell however, a user could log into a VLE, library management
system, your local network - whatever route your organisation is using
to enable users to log in - and an Athens session is started in the
background. This means that if a user subsequently clicks on a link to
a journal or any other Athens-protected resource that your organisation
subscribes to, they are automatically authorised by Athens to access
that resource.
This is enabled because AthensDA uses the standard authentication
protocols that Paul mentioned. AthensDA is already live at four UK
universities, and is due to go live at several other universities and FE
colleges in autumn 2004. The software and support for AthensDA is free
for all JISC-supported organisations, at least for the period of the
Eduserv Athens/JISC contract. This means that the only costs involved
are the time and effort incurred by your technical team in implementing
the software. And it is not a huge technical task - one college
implemented AthensDA in a day.
True single sign on can be achieved because this means AthensDA users no
longer need to enter a separate Athens username and password. So if
your organisation implemented AthensDA, your Athens administrator
wouldn't have to create and maintain Athens accounts anymore.
For more information, see
http://www.athensams.net/development/devolved_authentication/, where you
can obtain a non-technical overview and an integration guide. If you or
your technical colleagues have any further queries about AthensDA, they
should write to [log in to unmask]
---
Regards
Phil Leahy
Service Desk Team Leader
Eduserv Athens
access management
_____
[log in to unmask]
tel: +44 (0)1225 474333
fax: +44 (0)1225 474332
http://www.eduserv.org.uk/athens/
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Eduserv Athens is a service of Eduserv Technologies Limited
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