Last updated: Oct 11, 2019

Integration detail

Overview

For organizations federating with InCommon and/or other eduGAIN federated services, the Okta Federation Gateway by Unicon allows them to use Okta as the Identity Provider, while taking full advantage of federation capabilities. This service is offered and managed in the Cloud by Unicon, Inc., a leading EdTech consulting and digital services company specializing in open source applications that support and enhance teaching and learning.

The Challenge

Students, faculty, staff, and other campus users need easy, secure access to a vast array of applications and services
Many of those services are made available within trusted identity federations like InCommon, Canadian Access Federation (CAF), and eduGAIN
Integrating with federations has typically involved IT managing on-premises technologies
As higher education institutions embrace the cloud, they are looking to replace on-premises systems with scalable, cloud-based technologies

The Solution

With Okta and Unicon’s Federation Gateway working together, campus users can access all their apps, from Box and Office 365 to Moodle and Statista, in one place

Unicon’s Federation Gateway enables higher education institutions to seamlessly connect to the trusted identity federation of their choice, such as InCommon, Canadian Access Federation (CAF), and eduGAIN

Connecting the Unicon Federation Gateway with Okta makes it fast and easy to extend single sign-on (SSO) to all the resources within a federation, streamlining app onboarding for IT and enhancing security at the same time

Okta and the Unicon Federation Gateway are both born and hosted in the cloud, helping to accelerate a university’s transition to cloud efficiencies

Seamlessly and securely connect campus communities to higher education service provider federations

Campus communities have diverse software requirements, and need access to campus and education-focused applications like student information systems, learning management systems, and research entities, alongside other applications like Box and Office 365. Now, Okta and Unicon provide a joint solution that gives campus communities simple, secure access to everything they need, all in one place.

Unicon’s Federation Gateway is a cloud-based, managed service that lets Okta connect via SAML to service providers inside a federation like InCommon. The integration automates the necessary metadata exchange between identity provider (IDP) and service provider so IT doesn’t have to set it up manually each time, and provides schools with flexible options as to which attributes are released to the federation upon each access request. Connecting the Federation Gateway with Okta means campus users can enjoy the advantages of Okta Identity Cloud, including the simplicity of SSO and security of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), for all their applications, wherever they reside. And because both Okta and the Unicon Federation Gateway are cloud-based, higher education institutions can move away from managing on-premises technologies previously required to connect to a federation, and embrace cloud efficiencies.

Okta and Unicon integration.

Provide your students, faculty, staff, and other campus users with the resources they need

Give your campus communities easy single sign-on access to hundreds or thousands of service providers within a federation
Make it easy for users to access everything they need, all in one place
Streamline app onboarding for IT, while enhancing security
Get up and running quickly with a scalable, cloud-based solution

Documentation

Here is a section all about documentation, integration, and implementation.

Datasheet:

Okta + Unicon: Giving Higher-Education Communities Quick, Secure Access to the Resources They Need
Read it