Sun this week will release two servers in its identity management line designed to help corporate users jumpstart federation projects with partners and to aid service providers such as telcos in provisioning users on a massive scale.

The new software offerings are Sun Java System Federation Manager, a server that will help companies hook partners into their secure infrastructure, and a Service Provider Edition of Sun's Identity Manager software for extranet provisioning that includes self-registration, the ability to share account information and auditing tools.

Federation Manager is designed to help companies that have adopted identity federation get their partners up to speed with basic security capabilities. The server supports the Security Assertions Markup Language, and the Liberty Alliance Identity Federation Framework and Web Services Framework. It works in conjunction with Sun's Access Manager, which provides a federation hub for companies. Federation Manager is a lightweight spoke that partners can stand in front of their current identity platforms, such as a directory.

The server supports the Services Provisioning Markup Language, Java, C#, and Remote Java API over Secure Sockets Layer.

Both the Federation Manager and Identity Manager Service Provider Edition are priced on a per-seat basis with average installations running US$150,000 and US$300,000, respectively.

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