Sun-backed body ups stakes in battle with Microsoft's Passport

The Liberty Alliance will begin its campaign to rival Microsoft's controversial Passport offering on Monday as it launches its own single sign-on specification.

A source close to the situation told silicon.com the specification will be focused on corporates and their business partners rather than the consumer end of the market.

The source said: "The Liberty Alliance will work on increasing its profile within the market. All its member organisations will promote the specification within their own businesses and to their clients.

"Some companies will have prototype products using the specification that will be demonstrable next week at the launch."

The Liberty Alliance has based the specification on existing standards within the marketplace to encourage a rapid and wide uptake, the source said.

She added that one of the standards being used within the specification is Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML), the XML-based security extension protocol.

While the group is not responsible for the development of actual products, it is thought that its members, which include Sun, will quickly adopt the standard and begin offering users an alternative to Passport.