According to this story on the OpenID Web site, NTT docomo, Japan’s largest wireless carrier, is using OpenID to enable its 55+ million subscribers to avail themselves of “one-click” purchases or “single sign-on” access to information and resources. OpenID is a standard for user authentication which is regarded as “open” because there is no centralized issuing authority, instead there are many OpenID providers that issue unique URL’s that replace multiple “username/password” combinations with a single sign on.

For NTT docomo, OpenID solved a very specific problem. All of its wireless subscribers were automatically issued an “imodeID” which enabled them to gain access to the communications, entertainment and information services that docomo provides to its wireless subscribers. But i-mode only works on docomo’s wireless handsets, not desktop PCs. For authentication on fixed line devices, the company issued a separate “docomoID”. Use of OpenID, enables subscribers to sign on to multiple services across multiple devices.

The list of large network operators and service providers deploying a flavor of OpenID authentiction is impressive. It includes AOL, Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, MySpace, Orange and PayPal, among others. The addition of NTT docomo introduces OpenID into a country where wireless commerce has been highly successful thanks, in a large part, to the simplicity of access and the availability of multiple services. Earlier this year, 22 companies including NTT docomo, KDDI, Sony and NEC formed an “ID Platform Federation Forum” to test different ways to simplify user access across multiple carriers and services “based largely on OpenID.” The formal launch of OpenID-based authentication by NTT docomo moves the technology beyond the experimental stage.

Categories: Articles

Tags: mobile services, authentication, Recombinant Communications, NTT docomo, OpenID