Spotlight on Kantara Member ForgeRock

In this edition of Spotlight we are pleased to tell readers more about Kantara Initiative Board of Trustee Member ForgeRock, their unique role in IdM, and why they joined Kantara Initiative.

1. Why was your service/product created, and how is it providing real-world value today?

The world has changed.  Whereas Identity & Access Management (IAM) solutions of the past focused on employees and protecting the security perimeter, modern day IAM is focused on enabling consumers and expanding business reach.  The number of users, devices and identities to manage is growing exponentially, more applications are moving to the cloud, and the mobile computing age is exploding, identity management requirements have changed dramatically as enterprises extend IAM to the modern web.
ForgeRock addresses the demands of the modern web, offering a fully integrated and open source identity platform that includes a full portfolio of identity and access management products and services including Open DJ, OpenAM and Open IDM.  Our products are purpose-built to work together anywhere on any device, scale to meet the demands of the modern web and easily integrate into our customer’s environments.  Over 200, Fortune 1000 enterprises are using our platform to build out next-gen identity and access management solutions.

2. Where ForgeRock is envisioned to be in the next 5-10 years?

Our mission is to build the next- generation identity and access management (IAM) services capable of meeting the rigorous requirements of the cloud, SaaS, social, mobile and extended enterprise environments.   While these trends are emerging today, we believe they will soon be pervasive as identity extends to everyone and everything from cars to appliances and more.  Our open source model provides the transparency, agility and innovation to uniquely respond to the rapidly evolving identity and access management market.

3. Why did ForgeRock join Kantara Initiative?

ForgeRock, an open source company, was founded on the belief that an open, transparent and collaborative market is the best way to encourage innovation and adoption.   The mission and work of Kantara furthers these values, support technology innovation that is based on open standards and community.

4. Anything else we should know about ForgeRock, the service/product, or even your own experiences?

ForgeRock was founded in Oslo, Norway in 2010 as the pioneer of open source identity and access management. We were founded by ex-Sun Microsystems employees who left after the Oracle acquisition in order to continue the open source work they had started at Sun.  Started on a mere $40,000 in seed capital by five friends, we have since secured $7 million in Series A funding from Accel Partners and $15 million in Series B funding from Foundation Capital, with participation from Accel Partners.  Advisors include Scott McNealy, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems and former CEO of Sun and current chairman of Wayin.