A pervasive theme in the just-concluded JavaOne conference was the need for context-aware personalization of the user experience in a hyper-connected world.

For example, Ericsson’s overview presentation advised, "it’s about people" and "it’s all about me, me, me."

"Our kids will grow up in connected world," observed Dan’l Lewin of Micrsosoft.  "… I need to connect to things that matter most from wherever I am."

At that heart of making this all happen is Identity – enabling highly personalized, time-and-space-sensitive answers to fundamental questions:

• Who am I?
• Where am I?
• What "hat" am I currently wearing?
• What  is top of mind to me right now?
• With whom do I wish to connect?
• What device am I using?
• How do I want to participate in cyberspace – at this very moment?

However, as important as Identity is in answering these questions in a highly-personalized, hyper-connected experience, a user shouldn’t have to think about Identity.  A person should be immersed in the personal experience, not distracted by whatever mechanisms provide secure, personalized access to the services and applications that deliver the experience.  Identity must be an integral, intuitive, unobtrusive part of the entire experience.  It must be so natural and easy to use that it fades into the background of any task. 

Identity is rightfully the focal point for the Identity Management professional community.  But one measure of our ultimate success will be how little users have to think about it.

Technorati Tags: JavaOne, Identity, IdentityManagement, DigitalIdentity, Hyperconnectivity, Context, Personalization