Works with Office 365 - Identity program

The Works with Office 365-Identity program

The Works with Office 365-Identity program provides testing and qualification of third-party identity providers with Office 365. Office 365 uses Windows Azure Active Directory for identity management and through this includes directory synchronization and federation. Microsoft supports Office 365 for customers who are using Office 365 with a federated identity provider that is qualified under the Works with Office 365-Identity program. Identity providers that have not been tested by Microsoft  are not qualified for federation with Office 365.
If you're an Office 365 customer, you can use an identity provider that is qualified in the Works with Office 365-Identity program and know that Microsoft has tested the configuration and that it will be able to support Office 365. Please note that for information about configuring or troubleshooting the third-party identity provider you should contact the third party instead of Microsoft.
The Works with Office 365-Identity program is currently focused on WS-* identity providers. These providers use one of the following two protocols:
  • WS-Federation is the protocol used to support sign-in to Office 365 using the web interface, sometimes known as "passive authentication." This includes the Office 365 portal, SharePoint Online, Outlook Web Access, and the Office Web Apps.
  • WS-Trust is the protocol used to support sign-in to Office 365 using Office client applications, sometimes known as "active authentication." This includes Outlook, Lync, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.
SAML-P and Shibboleth are alternative protocols to the WS-* protocols, and they provide sign-in support for web applications that is similar to WS-Federation. In some cases SAML-P and Shibboleth can also be used to sign in to Outlook using the Enhanced Client or Proxy (ECP) extension. Sign-in to Office 365 from other Office client applications is not possible with SAML-P or Shibboleth.
Qualified Works with Office 365-Identity partners are listed below, according to the protocols they use.



  Identity program