I've written a new Constellation Research "Quark" Report on the FIDO Alliance ("Fast Identity Online"), a fresh, fast growing consortium working out protocols and standards to connect authentication endpoints to services.
With a degree of clarity that is uncommon in Identity and Access Management (IDAM), FIDO envisages simply "doing for authentication what Ethernet did for networking".
Not quite one year old, 2013, the FIDO Alliance has already grown to nearly 70 members, amongst which are heavyweights like Google, Lenovo, MasterCard, Microsoft and PayPal as well as a dozen biometrics vendors and several global players in the smartcard supply chain.
STOP PRESS! Discover Card joined a few days ago at board level.
FIDO is different. The typical hackneyed IDAM elevator pitch in promises to "fix the password crisis" but usually with unintended impacts on how business is done. Most IDAM initiatives unwittingly convert clear-cut technology problems into open-ended business transformation problems.
In welcome contrast, FIDO's mission is clear cut: it seeks to make strong authentication interoperable between devices and servers. When users have activated FIDO-compliant endpoints, reliable fine-grained information about the state of authentication becomes readily discoverable by any server, which can then make access control decisions according to its own security policy.
FIDO is not about federation; it's not even about "identity"!
With its focus, pragmatism and critical mass, FIDO is justifiably today's go-to authentication industry standards effort.
For more detail, please have a look at "The FIDO Alliance".