Google,IBM,Microsoft,Verisign and Yahoo Join OpenID

The OpenID Foundation today announced that Google (Nasdaq:GOOG), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), Verisign (Nasdaq:VRSN) and Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) have joined as its first corporate board members.

With these companies’ deep expertise in Internet and security technology, the OpenID Foundation strengthens the industrywide effort to empower users with portable Web identities, or OpenIDs. This effort helps ensure the evolution of an open and interoperable Internet that helps people take control of how their personal information is used online and helps online businesses attract and retain more users by simplifying and securing the management of digital identities.

OpenID Technology

With the increased use of the Internet to conduct business and the rise of new types of online interactions, such as social networking and user-generated content, innovative kinds of digital identifier technologies are necessary to sustain the “open Web.” OpenID enables individuals to convert one of their already existing digital identifiers — such as their personal blog’s URL — into an OpenID account, which then can be used as a login at any Web site supporting OpenID.

Wide adoption of OpenID reduces the frustration of repeatedly having to register username/password accounts and then later recalling login information for an ever-increasing array of Web sites. For online businesses, these efforts can lower password and account management costs, help reduce the overall risks of security breaches by limiting the amount of customer personal information businesses need to store and protect, and increase both new and return user traffic by lowering the barriers to Web site entry and reentry.

To learn more about the OpenID Foundation, please visit http://openid.net/foundation.

To learn more about the OpenID, please visit http://openid.net.