Identity federation allows a user to consolidate the many local identities he has configured among multiple service providers. With one federated identity, the user can log in at one service provider’s site and move to an affiliated service provider site without having to re-authenticate or re-establish identity. The Federation Service uses SAML to enable SSO sessions among business partners over the Internet. It consists of the following components:
A framework that complies with the Liberty Alliance Project specifications
A core Federation component
A graphical user interface