What is Federation?
Identity Federation establishes a trusted link between an organization’s identity provider and external service providers, enabling users to use their existing corporate credentials to access applications and services hosted by other organizations without needing separate accounts. Federation is what makes it possible to log into a partner portal or a SaaS application using your company login rather than creating a new username and password. It relies on standards like SAML and OIDC to securely exchange authentication data between systems. Federation is a cornerstone of modern enterprise IAM, reducing password fatigue, improving security, and enabling seamless collaboration across organizational boundaries.