Next Generation Azure® Active Directory®
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Even though Azure® Active Directory® (AAD) is still relatively new, many IT admins are already wondering what the next generation of Azure Active Directory will look like. The reason for this is that there are implicit limitations to using AAD that involve vendor lock-in with Microsoft®. From here, the question really becomes how do we evolve an identity provider to be a neutral platform that can enable individuals at an organization to get work done, from anywhere, with any tool?
Understanding the Microsoft® Approach with AAD
Identity providers (IdP) are designed to connect users to the IT resources they need. In the case of the legacy platform, Active Directory, the idea was mainly focused on connecting users specifically to Windows® platforms and applications. Azure Active Directory is largely an extension of that; it isn’t designed to be a standalone directory service, but rather, a complement to the on-prem AD instance. The result is that IT organizations can tightly manage Windows users and systems along with Azure infrastructure. With Azure AD, they can also leverage the SAML protocol to connect to select web applications. But largely, the Active Directory family of solutions is designed to work best with Microsoft-based platforms.
So, what’s the real problem with this approach? Well, with the changing IT landscape, the number of IT resources that are non-Microsoft has quickly spiked and continued to soar. The addition of macOS® and Linux® systems, cloud infrastructure at AWS® and other IaaS providers, web applications, cloud and physical file servers using Samba, WiFi networks, and more, have pushed the Microsoft-centric platform design of Azure AD to its limits. For many IT organizations, admins, and managed service providers (MSPs), this thorn in the side of their management workflow has become too painful to ignore.
Evolving Towards an All-inclusive, Vendor-neutral Solution
The challenge for IT admins now becomes how to manage all of these resources seamlessly, hence the original question about what a next generation Azure Active Directory would look like. Regardless of where the employee is and what tools they need, (Read more...)
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