A generic framework for a dynamic identity management and discovery system

Moving towards network convergence, a highly complex identity environment is emerging due to the heterogeneity of protocols, networks and devices as well as user requirements. The diversity of names and identities often representing un associated information and carrying different amount of security data, complicates the design of an identity management system. Existing solutions deal only with a small range of the identity issues, often imposing modifications in existing network procedures. This paper proposes a new independent identity management and discovery framework that links and manages internally all different types of identities while it is agnostic to existing naming formats, thus leaving existing current network procedures unaffected.