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Quest's Search for Identity: Page 2 of 3

Identity management may be relatively new, but it is big business. Computer Associates International Inc. (CA) (NYSE: CA) and Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL), for example, have already been down the M&A trail (see Oracle Opens Its Wallet for Oblix and CA Nets Netegrity for $430M). BMC Software Inc. (NYSE: BMC) recently snapped up single-sign-on startup OpenNetwork in an attempt to expand its identity management product suite (see BMC Aquires OpenNetwork).

“Companies like Oracle, CA, and BMC are making investments in identity management, seeing that as a strategic technology they need to take to market,” Schacter says.

And there are plenty of smaller vendors still playing in this space. These include the likes of Caymas Systems Inc., Ping Identity Corp., Trustgenix Inc., and Centrify Corp., which offers a technology similar to Vintela's (see Startup Looks to Solve Identity Crisis, Ping Identity Joins Forces With IBM, and Trustgenix Extends Identity Federation).

One thing: Schacter predicts that federated provisioning, which helps a firm’s customers do business with its partners, could be a hot identity management differentiator in the coming months: “[Federated provisioning] defines the XML objects and the flow of information from one site to the other that describes the customer."

One major vendor that has already made moves in this space is Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), which has OEM'd Trustgenix’s IdentityBridge product (see HP Signs Up Security Startup).