The Liberty Alliance Project released Mobile Business Guidelines 2.0, a
document for describing how service providers can deploy secure mobile Web services.
The Mobile Business Guidelines document addresses issues such as quality
standards, risk management, liability/dispute and resolution policies for
those offering single sign-on and Web services via handheld computers, smart
phones and laptops.
The publication of the schema was made in time for 3GSM World Congress in
Cannes, France, where the notion of being able to access Web services safely
via will be a major topic.
Software makers such as Microsoft , IBM
,
BEA Systems and others are intent on expanding the
adoption of Web services
communication that enables users to purchase goods securely via the
Internet.
But the software needs some service providers and wireless operators to use
the Web services infrastructure and applications written by the software
companies, enabling them on mobile gadgets to spur Web-based purchases for
mobile commerce.
Mobile operators are adopting them more and more as their confidence in the
safety of the technology increase due to blueprints from groups such as the
Liberty Alliance Project.
Liberty officials said in a statement they estimate close to 400 million
mobile subscribers — including customers of NTT DoCoMo, MTN, Orange, Telefonica Msviles
and Vodafone — will use Liberty models for secure, single sign-on and Web
services by the end of 2005. Mobile device makers such as Nokia already
apply Liberty specs to its devices and server products.
“As wireless operators continue to build out their enormous data networks,
it stands to reason that service providers will follow with additional data
services aimed at providing added value to the mobile user,” Liberty said.
Protecting privacy has had quite a premium placed on it in the recent advent
of several regulatory compliance policies, including HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley
and SEC 17a-4. Liberty is delivering blueprints to protect both the mobile
end user and the service provider.
Meanwhile, Liberty members Nokia, Sun and Vodafone are demonstrating
identity federation and identity Web services in consumer and enterprise
scenarios at 3GSM World Congress. Last week, Liberty unveiled
ID-WSF 2.0 a refined schema for single sign-on Web services with SAML 2.0
support.
