SAML Endpoint Program

Every Internet Single Sign-On (SSO) connection requires two parties. One party, sometimes referred to as a "hub," is generally highly motivated to establish connections and may need to deploy dozens or even hundreds of connections as quickly as possible in order to support business requirements. The other side of the connection, which we refer to as an “endpoint,” is generally less motivated and may be a neophyte to Internet SSO technologies and best practices.

It is in the initiating party's best interests to provide their endpoint partners with an easy way to complete an Internet SSO connection without initiating a lengthy and costly evaluation and/or development cycle. Ping Identity's Endpoint Program allows customers to purchase a cost-effective block of endpoint licenses, services and support for their customers, enabling them to quickly and easily establish Internet SSO partner connections.

Under the PingFederate Endpoint Program, organizations seeking to expedite the creation of Internet Identity connections can purchase PingFederate and PingFederate Express licenses for their partners.

The Ping Identity endpoint program

A PingFederate endpoint is a simple, lightweight SAML capability purchased by one party and given to another. Hubs purchase Endpoint licenses for customers, partners and vendors, enabling them to quickly enable Internet Identity. Because many Endpoints have little or no knowledge of Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) and related technologies, Ping Identity created Endpoints to allow hubs to quickly connect to their vital customers, vendors, and partners.

There are two primary use cases for SAML Endpoints, outlined below.

Outbound Internet SSO to external applications (Identity Provider to Service Provider)

In this use case, an organization that owns the user identities (known as the "Identity Provider", or IdP), purchases PingFederate or PingFederate Express licenses in order to quickly establish Internet SSO to applications provided by vendors, partners, dealers, etc (otherwise known as the "Service Provider," or SP). In some cases, SAML Endpoints can be used to quickly SSO-enable Internet applications located inside of the same organization.

Inbound Internet SSO from external organizations (Service Provider to Identity Provider)

In this use case, an organization purchases PingFederate Endpoints to enable inbound Internet SSO from customers, partners, dealers, etc. that are Identity Providers (IdPs). In this case the "hub" organization, which is the Service Provider (SP) side of the connection, purchases PingFederate licenses to allow their IdP partners to access the hub's applications.

To learn more, download the PingFederate Endpoint Program Data Sheet.