Big Blue to do federated ID for SMEs

IBM is set to unveil a scaled-down version of its federated security software in a move to reach out to small businesses.

IBM's new Tivoli Federated Identity Manager Business Gateway, a version of Tivoli Federated Identity Manager, aims to allow small companies of up to 5,000 employees to connect like spokes of a large company - or hub - to share information securely via a single sign-on.

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Joe Anthony, IBM's Tivoli identity management director, said: "The hubs want to sell to smaller partners and before, these partners would have to use the full product to be a spoke."

Tivoli's business gateway is roughly a third of the size of the full Federated Identity Manager, in terms of data requirements. The product will generally be available on 24 November and retail for $70,000 per server, with no limits on the number of users.

Dawn Kawamoto writes for CNET News.com