Term of the Moment
Auro-3D
Definition: i-broker
An organization that registers i-names and i-numbers for the XRI naming system (see XRI). I-brokers also provide services for the registrant. They may offer any number of services, but contact, OpenID and forwarding are mandatory.
Contact Service
The contact service provides a messaging application that can be published without the risk of generating spam, because users must verify their email addresses or i-names. It is generally the default service, and a plain resolution request redirects the user to the contact service. In the example below, the contact page is delivered if only the i-name for Alan Freedman, editor of this encyclopedia, is presented.
OpenID Service
I-brokers serve as an OpenID identity provider for the i-name registrant. OpenID, an emerging single sign-on system, supports i-names as identifiers (see OpenID).
Forwarding Service
The i-broker forwarding service redirects a user to any URL. For example, to go to Alan Freedman's company website, "+work" is appended to the i-name (=alan.freedman/+work). To send an email message, +email is appended (alan.freedman/+email). The i-broker forwarding service provides persistent addresses to the outside world. If registrants change their employment, they only need to change the URLs in their i-broker forwarding service. See i-name, XRI and XRDS.
Contact Is the Default Service
Contact Service
The contact service provides a messaging application that can be published without the risk of generating spam, because users must verify their email addresses or i-names. It is generally the default service, and a plain resolution request redirects the user to the contact service. In the example below, the contact page is delivered if only the i-name for Alan Freedman, editor of this encyclopedia, is presented.
OpenID Service
I-brokers serve as an OpenID identity provider for the i-name registrant. OpenID, an emerging single sign-on system, supports i-names as identifiers (see OpenID).
Forwarding Service
The i-broker forwarding service redirects a user to any URL. For example, to go to Alan Freedman's company website, "+work" is appended to the i-name (=alan.freedman/+work). To send an email message, +email is appended (alan.freedman/+email). The i-broker forwarding service provides persistent addresses to the outside world. If registrants change their employment, they only need to change the URLs in their i-broker forwarding service. See i-name, XRI and XRDS.
When the i-name =alan.freedman is resolved without a specified service, the LinkSafe i-broker presents the user with the contact page, which is the default service.