Federated Identity Management systems in e-government: The case of Italy

Federated Identity Management (FIdM) systems are at the heart of any online service in a public, private or hybrid autonomous cooperating system. This paper reviews and compares several existing approaches for building FIdM systems in the specific sector of e-government by showing Identity Management (IdM) schemes employed by several countries representatives of different realities by size, geographical location and Public Administration (PA) traditions. The paper analyses then the case of Italy by introducing the ongoing effort for defining and developing a nationwide e-government Enterprise Architecture to guarantee a flexible approach for integrated application services, respecting local and central administrations' autonomy. The paper finally focuses on the FIdM aspects employed within the Italian Enterprise Architecture. Copyright © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.