Signal #3 in our “6 Signals from ACAMP” Series
InCommon is publishing a series of blogs to recap what we learned from the IAM community during Advance Camp at the 2025 Internet2 Technology Exchange. This blog is the third installment in the series.
In December 2025, identity and access management (IAM) professionals from around the world gathered at Advance Camp (ACAMP) at the 2025 Internet2 Technology Exchange. Together, the collection of thought leaders and practitioners led interactive sessions on a range of IAM topics, including commonly used tools, learning opportunities, IAM architecture, and more.
What is ACAMP?
Advance CAMP is held at the end of every Internet2 Technology Exchange.
Every year, IAM professionals — from IAM novices to late-career IT professionals — gather to pitch their own topics, run demos of tools, and participate in breakout discussions. Attendees build the agenda live and on the spot. Each session is collaborative and conversational, and dedicated scribes take notes to capture the conversations for the broader IAM community.
In December 2025, identity and access management (IAM) professionals from around the world gathered at Advance Camp (ACAMP) at the 2025 Internet2 Technology Exchange. Together, the collection of thought leaders and practitioners led interactive sessions on a range of IAM topics, including commonly used tools, learning opportunities, IAM architecture, and more.
Following ACAMP, the InCommon team reviewed scribing document notes and identified six distinct signals that emerged from the conversations. These signals offer insight into what is shaping IAM and what is likely to drive focus and action for the research and higher education (R&E) community in 2026.
InCommon has launched a blog series to share these insights. We will share the discussions that took place at ACAMP and connect these conversations with past or ongoing efforts from InCommon and the broader IAM community.
This blog, the third installment in the series, reviews ACAMP conversations centered around how the IAM community can make progress as a collective unit. These topics aren’t about building new technology, but about figuring out what works.
Innovation & Progress Through Shared Practices
The IAM community is navigating operational changes at a faster rate than ever.
Commercial IAM platforms prove capable and valuable, but they rely on cross-institutional trust, shared standards, and federation models. Security timelines are tightening due to external factors, including compliance requirements. Edge cases now require increased attention.
At ACAMP, IAM practitioners shared their struggles with these issues. Just as important, attendees compared notes with peers navigating shared challenges.
The conversations weren’t solely focused on finding silver bullets. They prioritized finding what is working, what isn’t, and where shared approaches could help the community move forward together.
Here is a snapshot of the practices, patterns, and early experiments that came up across ACAMP sessions:
AI in IAM
What would a technology conference in 2025 be without in-depth discussions about artificial intelligence (AI)?
According to practitioners across ACAMP, IAM teams have found AI helpful in narrowly defined applications. Some institutions have used AI-driven tools for identity matching, access review outliers, log analysis, and documentation drafting.
ACAMP attendees stressed that AI needs human oversight in its application. While AI is helpful, the tools aren’t ready for perfect accuracy requirements or autonomous decision-making.
IAM Sketch
In 2025, InCommon launched its IAM Sketch tool. This visual planning tool and community resource library is a key deliverable from the InCommon Futures2 strategic report, and was built specifically for R&E institutions.
During an ACAMP session, participants took IAM Sketch for a hands-on test drive, working through the IAM Conceptual Model together and debating IAM architecture in real time. Participants highlighted that IAM Sketch is helpful because it uses a shared visual IAM language, making it easier to digest architectural designs, weigh trade-offs, and share knowledge.
Library-Specific Needs
Approximately 70% of academic library customers aren’t federating. While federation requires cross-organizational coordination and authorization models, many libraries continue to rely on IP-based and proxy solutions like EZProxy because they “just work.”
The real challenge, ACAMP attendees said, is that federation often breaks down around authorization, not authentication. Department-level licenses and seat limits require fine-grained control, and that approach doesn’t scale across 200+ vendor agreements. One solution proposed at ACAMP was to establish a working group for library-specific patterns.
Federation Authorization Needs Patterns
Where should authorization live: with identity providers (IdP), service providers (SP), or middleware? This was identified as a scaling problem. IdP-side doesn’t scale well, and SP-side isn’t often implemented. Intermediary layers may help. The community is dedicated to continued discussions to develop shared guidance.
Responsive InCommon Academy Programs
As IAM teams experiment with new approaches and navigate unfamiliar territory, the need for shared learning, peer support, and practical guidance becomes even more important.
At ACAMP, IAM community members elevated the need for learning experiences that support shared problem-solving and progress. They highlighted several ways they’d like InCommon Academy to support that work, including:
- 8-week Accelerator programs
- Discussion-oriented Thread Meetups
- Mentor programs and community guidance
InCommon Academy offers agile, high-impact formats that help institutions make significant progress more quickly. Stay tuned for lots of exciting learning and professional development opportunities from InCommon Academy in 2026.
Later this summer, BaseCAMP 2026 (June 1-5) provides a unique opportunity to refresh your IAM fundamentals while you connect with your peers in breakout rooms and interactive discussions.
InCommon Academy provides IAM training and learning opportunities for IAM professionals at all stages of their careers. Check out the InCommon Academy site to learn about upcoming opportunities to advance your career and improve your institution’s IAM capabilities.
These ACAMP conversations point to a shift in how IAM progress happens. As challenges get more complex, progress and innovation depend on shorter, targeted learning, a shared language, and more collaboration across the community. Creating intentional spaces to learn and build together is key for IAM in R&E in the years ahead.
Stay Connected for More From ACAMP 2025
Keep your eyes open for more blogs in this series about everything we learned about the IAM landscape during ACAMP.
You can find InCommon blogs on our social media channels. Want to get the news delivered directly to your inbox? Sign up for the monthly InCommon Newsletter.
Note from the author: These signals were informed by a review of ACAMP session notes, with artificial intelligence used to help summarize themes and surface patterns. We encourage you to explore the 2025 ACAMP scribing documents and draw your own insights from the community’s discussions.
