The JISC Federated Access Management newsletter circulated today says:
"There is some confusion at the moment about institutions that have chosen to outsource their IdP to a third party provider. If you have chosen this option, you will still need to join the UK federation ..."
[Major gripe: I had to type that text in myself because in the newsletter it's part of an image and uncopyable]
In my experience, if institutions understand what "outsource their IdP to a third party provider" means, they probably understand that they need to join the federation to do so. It's those institutions that think they can use the Athens-to-Shibboleth gateway without the necessity to join the federation that are confused. We have had more than one message from people who don't believe that access to the gateway is dependent on federation membership.
So my conclusion is that we should talk in a language that people understand. Many more people have heard of the Athens-to-Shibboleth gateway than have heard about outsourcing their IdP.
Best wishes
Sean
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Sean Dunne
Bibliographic & Scientific Services Manager
Mimas
Kilburn Building
University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PL
U.K.
+44 (0)161 275 6065
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