14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is hammering away at the next iteration of its Identity Management tools and it reached a key mark toward the finalization and delivery of the gold build of Forefront Identity Manager 2010. As of October 6th, 2009, the Redmond company is offering testers and early adopters the chance to try a nearly final Build of Forefront Identity Manager 2010. Touting nothing short of significant performance and scalability enhancements across all areas of the product, the software giant has made available for download the first Release Candidate for the successor of Microsoft Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007.
“The long awaited RC1 release of Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager is finally here. Yes, we've been waiting a long time but good things take time and when it comes to FIM 2010 there are a lot of good things. FIM 2010, aka "ILM2", is the next iteration of Identity Management tools from Microsoft. While it is technically the successor to ILM 2007, aka "ILM1", it is by no means simply an upgrade. FIM 2010 dramatically improves enterprise identity management by delivering powerful self-service capabilities for Office end-users, rich administrative tools and enhanced automation for IT professionals, and .NET and WS based extensibility for developers,” revealed John McGlinchey, Sr. Consultant, Microsoft Consulting Services.
Although it was initially referred to under the Identity Lifecycle Manager moniker, and with the “ILM 2” codename, the final product has been rebranded as Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager 2010, and that is the way that it will ship to customers. On top of the evolution in terms of performance and scalability, Forefront Identity Manager 2010 RC1 also brings to the table a revamped user interface. Microsoft promises that the new UI kicks usability and layout up a notch, having integrated the RC0 customer feedback.
“Key feature enhancements, such as the ability to show invalid security group members and to disable batch approve/reject of membership requests if needed. A System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) management pack and configuration migration tools are also new for RC1,” McGlinchey added.
With Forefront Identity Manager 2010, Microsoft is offering customers a solution designed to manage identity-based access to applications. The software giant indicates that FIM has been tailored not only to on-premise but also to in the cloud scenarios, irrespective of location or device. The final release of Forefront Identity Manager 2010 is planned for the first quarter of 2010.
Forefront Identity Manager 2010 RC1 is available for download here.