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<div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif">Shibboleth Consortium officially launched! </font></div>
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<div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif">TO:<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">
</span>Shibboleth Community</font></div>
<div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif">FR: <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">
</span>Shibboleth Consortium Board</font></div>
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<div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif">Its been a long time in coming but after several years of close partnership with partners across the global identity and access management communities, I am pleased to announce that the Shibboleth Consortium was formally
launched with the ratification and signing of its Charter by Internet2, Janet and SWITCH. This signing, which took place during the recent Internet2 Annual Meeting held in Arlington, Virginia, USA, extends the commitment of National Research and Education
Networks in the United States, the United Kingdom and Switzerland to the continued development of the Shibboleth software, as well as promoting its adoption globally. </font><font face="Calibri,sans-serif">A copy of the full charter is available at http://shibboleth.net/consortium/principles.html</font></div>
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<div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif">Shibboleth was first released in 2003 and has been widely adopted by research and education communities around the world. The establishment of the Consortium and commitment of funding by the members will ensure ongoing development
and support of the Shibboleth software, allowing organisations to deploy it with confidence. </font><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">With the new consortium charter now in place, the Consortium will begin to add additional investors to the
project, attract additional funding from Shibboleth supporting NRENs, campuses and commercial partners to further enhance the product, to improve documentation and training resources, and to promote Shibboleth in appropriate ways. We will be reaching out to
the community to identify where Shibboleth is making a difference for and to encourage stakeholders to participate in the roadmap and development process.</span></div>
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<div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif">Shelton Waggener (Internet2 in the United States) was appointed as Consortium Board Chair until the end of 2013, with the position of Chair rotating amongst the board members on a bi-annual basis. Additionally, the Consortium
Board has selected Janet (United Kingdom) as Consortium Operator through the end of 2014 to manage the activities and to ensure delivery in accordance with the development roadmap. As the Consortium Operator Janet has responsibility to manage the Consortium’s
investments and coordination around Shibboleth development, which is currently focused on the Version 3.</font></div>
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<div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif">Watch for quarterly updates from the Consortium board in the coming months and thank you for your support of the Shibboleth community. </font></div>
<div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif">About Shibboleth – Shibboleth is SAML-based open-source software for enabling single sign-on authorisation to access web services across different organisations. The Shibboleth Consortium was founded by Internet2, Janet
and SWITCH to support development and adoption of Shibboleth, and is funded by its member organisations who share this common vision. More information is available on the Shibboleth website at http://www.shibboleth.net/</font></div>
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<div>Thanks</div>
<div>Shel for the Shibboleth Consortium Board</div>
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