(January 21, 2003) - The Liberty Alliance Project has ratified the final version of its 1.1 specifications, incorporating feedback received during the review period that began last November.

The version 1.1 specifications provide maintenance updates to the version 1.0 specifications released in July 2002. Version 1.1 includes editorial changes that clarify the version 1.0 specifications, as well as fixes and enhancements. The majority of the updates in version 1.1 are focused on reducing barriers for implementers, by improving flexibility and clarifying some ambiguities in version 1.0. The final version of 1.1 also includes changes such as adding a mechanism to confirm that global log-out has occurred. The final 1.1 specifications can be reviewed or downloaded at www.projectliberty.org/specs/index.html.

The 1.1 specifications focus on enabling interoperability between technology systems to make it easy for businesses to provide opt-in account linking and simplified sign-on functionality to partners, customers, and employees.

The Liberty Alliance anticipates that its next major release of specifications will be issued in the first half of 2003. The next release will provide an identity services framework and infrastructure for developing and supporting identity-enabled Web services from companies, organizations, or government entities. The infrastructure will include a framework for permissions-based attribute sharing and will allow groups of organizations, often referred to as "circles of trust" or authentication domains, to be linked together, as opposed to operating as separate islands.