OPENID FOUNDATION

The [OpenID Foundation](http://openid.net/) is a non-profit organization that manages the efforts to increase adoption of the OpenID standard across the web. By using the service, internet users can authenticate at various websites with one digital identity managed through the OpenID standard. OpenID came from the unification of 4 different user-centric identity efforts that learned about each others' efforts at the [Internet Identity Workshop] in the fall of 2005: OpenID created by [LiveJour... nal](http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/livejournal) founder [Brad Fitzpatrick](http://www.crunchbase.com/person/brad-fitzpatrick), LID (Lightweight Identity) created by [Johannes Ernst] (http://www.crunchbase.com/person/johannes-ernst), founder of [NetMesh], XRI/i-names created by [Drummond Reed] and the XRI TC at [OASIS] and SXIP protocol created by [Dick Hardt] (http://www.crunchbase.com/person/dick-hardt), CEO of [Sxip] (http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/sxip-identity). In a display of its promise as a technology and its support by technology's biggest players, the OpenID Foundation has a Corporate Board comprised of [Google](http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/google), [IBM](http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/ibm), [Yahoo](http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/yahoo), [VeriSign](http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/verisign), and [Microsoft](http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/microsoft).More