<s>
WS-Federation	B-General_Concept
(	O
Web	B-General_Concept
Services	I-General_Concept
Federation	I-General_Concept
)	O
is	O
an	O
Identity	O
Federation	O
specification	O
,	O
developed	O
by	O
a	O
group	O
of	O
companies	O
:	O
BEA	O
Systems	O
,	O
BMC	O
Software	O
,	O
CA	O
Inc	O
.	O
(	O
along	O
with	O
Layer	O
7	O
Technologies	O
now	O
a	O
part	O
of	O
CA	O
Inc	O
.	O
)	O
,	O
IBM	O
,	O
Microsoft	O
,	O
Novell	O
,	O
Hewlett	O
Packard	O
Enterprise	O
,	O
and	O
VeriSign	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Part	O
of	O
the	O
larger	O
Web	O
Services	O
Security	O
framework	O
,	O
WS-Federation	B-General_Concept
defines	O
mechanisms	O
for	O
allowing	O
different	O
security	O
realms	O
to	O
broker	O
information	O
on	O
identities	O
,	O
identity	O
attributes	O
and	O
authentication	O
.	O
</s>
