Introducing Microsoft Identity Lifecycle Manager "2"

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For almost two years, I have been part of the team developing Microsoft Identity Lifecycle Manager "2."  I've been on that project almost from its inception, first as a program manager, and now as a developer.  So I will devote a series of posts to telling you about the product, with the intention of providing a view of its innards. 

 Microsoft Identity Lifecycle Manager "2" provides these facilities:

  1. The synchronization of passwords, and data concerning users, groups and other types of entities, among the various data stores of an enterprise.  This functionality was inherited from the legacy product, Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003, and incorporated wholesale in Microsoft Identity Lifecycle Manager "2." 
  2. Self-service smart card management.  That functionality was inherited from a product that Microsoft purchased from Alacris, and released last year, along with an update to Microsoft Identity Integration Server, as Microsoft Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007. 
  3. Self-service distribution list and security group management. 
  4. Self-service personnel information management. 
  5. Self-service password re-set. 

The third beta was made available in July, and we are currently progressing toward a release candidate. 

The most important concept in the product that of organizing things into sets.  Hence, that will be the subject of my next post.