Liberty Alliance signs 11 more members

NEWS Controversial web authentication group Liberty Alliance has signed 11 new members and claims to be in discussions with Microsoft. The industry alliance, which is striving to establish open standards for web services, has brought its total number of members to 38. The new members, including EDS, Pricewaterhousecoopers and Verisign are joining heavyweights such as AOL, Cisco, HP, Mastercard, Nokia and Sun. Speaking to silicon.com, Eric Dean, chairman of the Liberty Alliance, said despite often being billed as an opposing standard for Microsoft's Passport web authentication system, the group is not trying to position itself against the Redmond giant. Dean said he is trying to persuade Microsoft to join the group to carve out industry standards. "We are in discussions with Microsoft to forge an agreement at one point so we can push the initiative forward. Passport and Liberty Alliance are not exclusive groups, you can be member of both," he said. Dean said the company has stated it has two major concerns about joining the group. "Microsoft say they have a problem with product interoperability. They have too many products which makes it impossible for the company to commit to two separate groups. "Secondly, they are concerned about intellectual property issues. They would not tell me exactly what their concerns about intellectual property are, but we will find out in due course." Art Coviello, CEO of encryption company RSA, and one of the founding members of the Alliance, said before any product announcements can be made, there is an urgent need for the industry to forge an industry standard. He said: "We would prefer Microsoft to join the alliance because there is a strong need for a common standard."