1. Athens and Shibboleth ® : the choices Phil Leahy Athens Product Manager

2. The current funding situation JISC are funding the Athens service for the FE sector until July 2008 What does this mean for UK FE? Firstly: Athens is not ending in 2008! –used by 2000+ organisations in 90 countries worldwide –20% of UK NHS staff have an Athens account

3. Implications for UK further education a free access management service is unlikely to be an option for UK FE after 2008. The choices are: –contract with Eduserv to continue using the Athens service after 2008 –implement federated access management technology e.g. SAML, Shibboleth ®

4. Federated access management JISC does not expect all FE colleges to implement federated access management by 2008 –changes in infrastructure may be required –changes in functionality –technical capacity

5. AthensDA and Shibboleth ® : similarities and differences Similarities: –users can authenticate locally from anywhere –separate Athens account not required –sound directory service a pre-requisite –reduced workload for LRC staff –technical effort and skill level requirements Differences: –no centrally managed service –no user or administrative interfaces –the technology

6. Athens and Shibboleth ® working together Athens already interoperating with Shibboleth ® –Shibboleth ® Athens gateway already in place –Athens Shibboleth ® gateway beta to be launched shortly What are the gateways? –allow connections in both directions –transparent to users

7. Access management choices A mix of access management tools –IP authentication –vendor usernames/passwords –Athens (classic or AthensDA) –EZproxy –…and now Shibboleth ® too Choices for the future must be based on college IT strategy –Shibboleth ® does not replace Athens

8. Points to consider Is your college using Athens yet? Were you already considering implementing AthensDA in the near future? Should you wait? –dont want two separate implementations in rapid succession –need to think about technical resources –AthensDA may still be the best option User administration/support –most tasks now out of librarys scope

9. Eduservs commitment to JISC-supported organisations to provide the Athens service from August 2008 at no more than 50p per member per annum develop production software for Shibboleth ® architecture support institutions engaging directly with Shibboleth ® continued development of the Athens service in line with the new standards