What is Federation

Ubiquitous access and pervasive computing concept is almost intrinsically tied to wireless communications. Emerging next-generation wireless networks enable innovative service access in every situation. Apart from many remote services, proximity services will also be widely available. People currently rely on numerous forms of identities to access these services. The inconvenience of possessing and using these identities creates significant security vulnerability, especially from network and device point of view in wireless service access. After explaining the current identity solutions scenarios, the chapter illustrates the on-going efforts by various organizations, the requirements and frameworks to develop an innovative, easy-to-use identity management mechanism to access the future diverse service worlds. The chapter also conveys various possibilities, challenges, and research questions evolving in these areas.