SeamlessAccess for R&E Federation Operators

Federation Operators will find SeamlessAccess a powerful tool that supports the crucial first step in federated single sign-on when a user tries to “find home,” i.e., to indicate which institution’s credential the user wishes to sign in with. Federation Operators can offer a branded default Identity Provider (IdP) discovery service to their members that will allow users to see the value the federation brings to the experience.

Today, services implement their own home-finding, or Where Are You From (WAYF), mechanisms with different vocabulary and user interface. This non-standardized format results in highly inconsistent experiences, making it difficult for casual users to navigate the sign-in experience. SeamlessAccess provides a consistent, intuitive, and easy-to-use home institution discovery mechanism. It dramatically simplifies the sign-in experience.

Further, with appropriately branding, this discovery mechanism visually conveys to the user that they are signing into the service with the same trusted credential issued by their home institution, underpinned by a globally trusted research and education community. It lends a powerful platform to help the end-user intuit the value of R&E identity federations.

If you would like to implement SeamlessAccess for your federated services, more information on how to integrate with SeamlessAccess, as well as our source code, is available at Getting Started.