Limited resources, skill sets, or federation experience often prevent smaller institutions from joining an identity federation. This is especially true for K-12 school districts and smaller higher education.
Internet2, The Quilt, and other regional Research and Education Network providers are trying to bridge this gap by exploring how to extend effective federated identity management (FIM) services to these communities.
Think of FIM in this instance as an ATM. Thousands of banks are federated with millions of users. The ATM card is the login, and the password is the Personal Identification Number (PIN) maintained by the user’s home institution, or bank. Other institutions give access to remote users based on trusting the login and password.