Microsoft yesterday unveiled the final pre-release code for its Identity Integration Server (MIIS) 2003 identity management system.

The software giant claimed that MIIS improves identity and access management for customers by enabling them to integrate information from multiple repositories for a single, complete view of user information.

"Customers have told us they need an end-to-end solution for managing identity information and access rights," said Bill Veghte, corporate vice president for the Windows Server Group at Microsoft.

"With the delivery of MIIS, we bring provisioning and metadirectory capabilities together in a single solution that enables customers to create and manage user identities with a single consistent view across the enterprise and throughout the complete life cycle of identity management."

As well as integrating identity information across multiple platforms, MIIS is designed to make identity management easier by automating the process of establishing and eliminating user accounts and enabling self-service password management.

Jamie Lewis, chief executive of analyst firm Burton Group, said that identity management has become a core business issue for most enterprises.

"Regulatory compliance, secure business-to-business application integration and secure web services simply aren't possible without solid identity management infrastructure," he said.