Identity Providers

An identity provider is a trusted provider that enables you to use single sign-on to access other websites. A service provider is a website that hosts applications. You can enable Salesforce as an identity provider, then define one or more service providers, so your users can access other applications directly from Salesforce using single sign-on. This can be a great help to your users: instead of having to remember many passwords, they will only have to remember one. Plus, the applications can be added as tabs to your Salesforce organization, which means users won’t have to switch between programs.

For more information, see “About Identity Providers and Service Providers” in the Salesforce online help.