Microsoft's Forefront Identity Manager

Latest efforts of Microsoft to sort out the web of identification procedures required to protect highly valued business assets have resulted in the development of Forefront Identity Manager. The Forefront Identity Manager (FIM) 2010, which succeeds the Identity Lifecycle Management 2007, contains updated management processes to enables low-level staff to implement tough and flexible policies for access.

Enterprises that already use other enterprise applications from Microsoft such as Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Sharepoint, are able to use FIM more appropriately. FIM 2010 can interact with many other directories, email and collaborations tools as well. FIM 2010 is not just a system for management and protection of passwords. It can also be used for the management of access to certain documents and for creating associated access to resources amongst different organizations. Also, it can help in the on-boarding and off-boarding of employees in a company.

It is quite simple to use and implement as compared to Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007. Although, a significant IT infrastructure is required in order to implement FIM 2010 in daily operations. Also, a difficult task is to install the latest version of Forefront Identity Manager 2010 or to upgrade the identity management system previously installed. Even if Microsoft has done its best to streamline the setup tasks in FIM 2010, it operates in a highly regulated and sensitive area.