Greetings

Greetings everyone. My name is Mike Brengs and I am a Managing Partner at Optimal IdM, a software and consulting company based in the greater Tampa Bay Florida area that specializes in identity management. We are also the developers of the Virtual Identity Server, which is a Microsoft .NET LDAP Virtual Directory.

This is the first of what hopefully will be many blogs that I post. Why am I blogging? Good question and I am glad that your reading. The old tree falling in a forest quandary comes to mind... One of the reasons I am writing is because I am the "resident IdM evangelist" at Optimal IdM and along with that job I spend part of my time doing workshops, speaking engagements, etc. This extra role suits me well because for those of you who know me, know that I do tend to speak my mind.

Of course speaking publicly on a subject matter where I have some expertise is one thing. Going on the record and posting your thoughts and beliefs for everyone to read is quite another. This must be how politicians feel, where words can be taken out of context and scrutinized. Hopefully I won't make to many goofs and if I do can find some syrup for my waffling. Almost daily I will see a blog posting, read a newspaper article, or talk to a customer or analyst and think to myself; "If I had a blog, that sure would be a good post..." So in the end, I believe I have some thoughts and comments that a few of you out on the Internet might want to hear and find valuable.

One of the main areas that I will focus on is LDAP Virtual Directories (our Virtual Identity Server product is an LDAP Virtual Directory). As I talk to people, I find that many people are either not familiar with or have the wrong understanding of what an LDAP Virtual Directory is or how this can be applied to solving real problems for organizations. I am always amazed when I talk to our customers at the unique ways they are using the technology and in the end I hope you will too.

So I hope you will enjoy reading my blog and find it useful and informative. If you don't like my blog, then please send me your name, Social Security number, date of birth, Mother's Maiden Name and your Bank Routing Information. I will issue a refund of your monies paid immediately.