The 62nd Edition of the Identity Jedi Newsletter

But before we get to all that Jedi. I want to take the time to wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you enjoy this time with your loved ones, unwind from the daily grind, and just enjoy the moments. And if you’re reading this and saying..but David, I’m not in the U.S. We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here. No worries, remove the Happy Thanksgiving sentence, then re-read. Either way, I’m sending you warm wishes, good vibes, and happy thoughts.

WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK

OpenAI

It’s been a rollercoaster week for the crew over at OpenAI. I think OpenAI will become one of the most influential companies in history. Not just in the products they produce but the research they do and the by-products that will be created from that research. In a shocking move by the board, Sam Altman was removed as CEO of OpenAI. This was not taken well by the employees. Several employees threatened to resign in solidarity with Altman, and shortly after being fired from OpenAI, Altman was hired by Microsoft to lead a “new group” on AI. One thing to note, Microsft is OpenAI’s biggest strategic partner, as all OpenAI’s platform runs on Azure. Oh, and the BILLIONS of dollars that Microsoft has poured into OpenAI.

So why bring this up here?

There are few times in history when one entity affects so many. OpenAI has sparked a wave of innovation in the tech industry over the last year. Every product you can think of now has some AI capability baked in. LLM is now becoming part of the everyday vocabulary, and I don’t see this slowing down anytime soon. You'd like to see a little more stability in what could be the most influential company in a generation. But maybe that’s asking too much….maybe.

Vendors to Watch

Ok, so I’ve been thinking about this for a while. I wanted to assemble a list of vendors I believe will impact the IAM space over the next five years. And, of course, when I thought about it, I made this huge deal of it. I wanted this in-depth graph that ranked vendors by potential, user interface, performance, feature set, etc. And so I just kept spinning down this “perfection is the enemy of good” death spiral. So, instead, I simplified it. A simple list of vendors, with a few sentences explaining why I think they will be impactful. What I like, and what I don’t like about each one.

I'm still trying to develop a catchy name for it, so if you have ideas, let me know! I’ll post the list as a community blog and come back and update it every quarter, but you’ll be able to comment and give your input as well.

So without further ado……

THE LIST

(In no particular order)

• Conductor One - I love their leadership and thought process around the market. Their commitment to open source around connectivity ( Check out their Baton SDK). But also their approach to a modern converged IAM platform, combining IGA and PAM. They are strong in access reviews, but still a work in progress on their lifecycle management features.

• Veza - A true data-first approach to identity. Veza’s features are built on understanding the relationships between users and their access. This is something that legacy platforms miss on, and I feel has been the missing piece for a while. Also light on the lifecycle management features.

• Zilla Security - What started out as an access request-centric platform has quickly matured into an Identity Security platform player. Quick setup of access reviews, self-service access request,etc. But I also love their outlook on building an all-around platform from the ground up.

• YouAttest - Purce access review player, which quick setup and easy to user features. If you’re looking for a pure access review solution that you can get up and running quickly, give them a look.

• FastPath - From audit to IAM platform. Fastpath’’s deep GRC background combined with IAM capabilities offers a compliance-first style offering.

• Balkan ID - Data first approach to access reviews. Currently, a pure access review play with upside around analytics and identity data.

• Radiant Logic - I’ve longed to deem Radiant as the Swiss army knife of IAM. But recently, their dive into building an “identity fabric” backed by a full IAM platform leads to a very data-centric view of handling identity.

So there you have it. The initial list of vendors I think is making some waves in the IAM industry. I’ll continue to update and upgrade this list, and of course, I WANT YOUR INPUT!.

Microsoft ALL IN on Identity?

So it seems Microsoft is all in on Zero-trust and by that extension, is all in on identity. Centralizing their security tools to augment around identity, in true BeyondCorp style function. There’s been a long history of disappointment when it comes to Microsoft and identity, so I’m not getting to excited yet, but lets just say I’m curious.