The Id Element: Jorgen Thelin on the Microsoft Federation Gateway (MFG)

After a long pause, the Id Element returns with a bang: yesterday I sneaked in Jorgen Thelin’s office, and he was so kind to spend some time with us discussing the Microsoft Federation Gateway. The MFG is absolutely central to Microsoft’s services offerings: this interview will help you understand what scenarios it enables and how to take advantage of it. Below there’s the caption:

Jorgen Thelin, Senior Program Manager, looks after key identity services in Microsoft such as Windows Live ID and the Microsoft Federation Gateway (MFG).
In today’s interview Jorgen describes the role of MFG, and touches on the many wonders it enables: using AD accounts to SSO (single sign on) access to Microsoft Business Online Services such as Dynamics CRM, allowing the 550 million owners of a Live ID account to gain access to your federated applications developed with Windows Identity Foundation, and much more.
Jorgen also takes the chance to tell the story of the Microsoft Services Connector (MSC), from its inception to the decision of consolidating its functionalities in Active Directory Federation Services 2.0 (see the Microsoft Online Service Federation Utility preview).
Finally, Jorgen gives us a taste of the future of MFG: non-AD directories, SAML2.0 protocol and the new scenarios that those exciting features will enable.

Have fun!