This IDC study explores the concept of application-centric identity management and explains why this emerging architectural approach will be compelling to many organizations.

"A new phase of identity management is emerging, which weaves the management of user identities directly into the applications themselves so that the service is part of the applications' business processes," says Sally Hudson, research manager, Security Services and Identity Management at IDC. "IDC believes that this application-centric approach to IAM could save organizations significant dollars in integration costs, while increasing security and providing business agility."