So I’ve finalized my plans to attend the RSA Show again this year.  Will be the first time I’ve been there not attached to a vendor exhibiting on the show floor.  Should be liberating!

I’ll be networking as I pursue several avenues of opportunities for my “next gig”.  Good news is that there is a lot going on and I’m really looking forward to linking up with friends, old and new.

The main non-networking item I’m interested in at the show is the OSIS Identity Interop.  There’s a lot of buzz in the identity space and I’m anxious to see what the reality of the situation is with real vendors, real products and real useful applications and use cases.  So far, I read a lot of good ideas, see a lot of work being done in various efforts around specs, protocols, etc., but haven’t seen any services or implementations that make me exclaim, “aHA! There’s something useful and secure, I’ll trust my online life to THAT!”.

Given that, you can imagine that my main focus as I examine my “next gig” options, is how to participate in the creation of exactly that service or application.  I believe all the pieces exist already today to put in place and create a revolutionary service, but all I see are the most timid steps forward.  This doesn’t mean that something won’t be announced at the show this week and I certainly hope it is and that we all can be using it by the end of next week!

Leave me a comment here or email me if you’d like to get together at the show and kick around some ideas or just grab an adult beverage <grin>.

Originally published April 4, 2008