SSO Reaches for the Cloud, and “The Case of the Missing iPhone Docs”

This week, I’m spending some quality time with Symplified’s SinglePoint Universal SSO (quick, say that five fimes, fast!); it’s a relatively simple-to-grasp single sign-on package that doesn’t use server-side agents or desktop clients. SinglePoint works with SAML 1.1 or 2.0 applications, and through HTTP federation, also handles applications that lack any SAML support whatsoever.

In essence, SinglePoint takes on the role of identity provider and security provider; it allows users to access multiple cloud and SAAS applications through a single password. Perhaps even more valuable is its ability to enforce security policies (such as password strength) on cloud services that would otherwise accept passwords that don’t meet corporate standards.

Meanwhile on the Apple beat, the dust is still settling after the “bumpers for bumpkins” announcement, which overshadowed the release earlier in the week of an updated iPhone Configuration Utility. I took a closer look at a handful of iCU’s new features, but you might also find Apperian’s comprehensive walkthrough of the changes to be useful.

I don’t know what bothers me more about this iCU update: on the one hand, there’s still no way to manage the modified Exchange ActiveSync profile that Apple pushed out for iOS 4 devices last month; on the other, there’s no official documentation for the new features of iCU. I guess that I miss the documentation more, but I’m not surprised by Apple’s delay on this; the foot-dragging is typical for any technology project. One of the great truisms of IT is “Those who can, write code; those who can’t, write doc,” and Apple seems driven to live down to that standard.