Kalmar2 is open

Kalmar2 is open - access to Nordic higher education institutions with one username

Kalmar2, named after the historic Kalmar Union, is presented today at the NORDUnet conference in Copenhagen. 480 years after the dissolution of the first Kalmar Union, the Nordic countries join forces again - this time without guns or politics but armed with the latest technology for easing access to services while still protecting the users' privacy and personal data.

Web-based services requiring user authentication have become so common that the number of usernames and passwords that users need to memorize has become insurmountable. Knitting together login-systems from all Nordic countries, it is now possible for users to log into web based services using their existing username and password - not the one provided by the website!

Users can use their existing usernames and passwords freely across the Nordic area to access protected web-pages like research databases, e-science and e-learning systems etc. Kalmar2 fulfills the need in educational and research sector for collaboration and sharing of resources across borders. The goal is to strengthen Nordic collaboration, based on existing national infrastructures for role based access.

Kalmar2 is not confined to the Nordic area. Other countries may join if they live up to Kalmar2's strict requirements for identity management.

"Kalmar2 is an example of the Nordic area building critical infrastructure for our academic community. Identity infrastructure is at the same stage Internet was 20 years ago, when the Nordic Internet infrastructure was operational across borders. With Kalmar2, the Nordic e-science collaboration and sharing makes a leap forward" says Ingrid Melve, Chief Technical Officer for UNINETT, the Norwegian research network.

The Kalmar2-work was funded by NordForsk. Participating countries are Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Iceland.

For more information, see [www.kalmar2.org]

Contact:

Finland: Mikael Linden (mikael.linden@csc.fi, phone +358 40 507 4100)
Sweden: Dr. Torbjörn Wiberg (torbjorn.wiberg@adm.umu.se, phone +46705778807 )
Denmark: David Simonsen (david@wayf.dk, phone +45 31216152)
Norway: Anders Lund (anders.lund@uninett.no, phone +47 73557908)
Iceland: Jon Engi Einarsson (jie@rhnet.is)