# Cirrus Identity

> Cirrus Identity is an Oakland-based software company that runs managed, cloud-hosted identity and access management for higher education, research institutions, non-profits and healthcare. Founded in 2013 by former UC Berkeley identity staff, it acts as a proxy and bridge between commercial identity providers (Entra ID, Okta, Duo, Google) and the multilateral research-and-education federations - InCommon, eduGAIN, the Canadian Access Federation and GakuNin - that campuses depend on but that most commercial IdPs do not support. More than 200 universities use it to retire aging Shibboleth deployments, let alumni and applicants log in with social accounts, and standardize authentication without rebuilding every application.

- **Founded:** 2013
- **Headquarters:** Oakland, California, United States
- **Founders:** Dedra Chamberlin (Founder & CEO)
- **Team size:** ~21 employees
- **Products:** Cirrus Bridge, Cirrus Proxy / Authentication Proxy, Cirrus Gateway, External User Solutions, Admin Console & Logs
- **Notable:** Grew from a single-campus expertise base to serving 200+ universities., Launched Cirrus Gateway in March 2014, giving campuses social-login capability early., Built managed support for multilateral federation (InCommon, eduGAIN, CAF, GakuNin) that most commercial IdPs do not offer.

## Products & services

- **Cirrus Bridge** — A cloud-hosted bridge that lets institutions consolidate SSO on Entra ID, Okta or Duo while still supporting multilateral federation (InCommon, eduGAIN, CAF, GakuNin) and CAS-authenticated apps - allowing campuses to retire Shibboleth, ADFS or SimpleSAMLphp without changing downstream applications.
- **Cirrus Proxy / Authentication Proxy** — An identity provider proxy that standardizes authentication across identity providers and legacy systems, with support for bilaterally integrated SAML applications and an optional TOTP-based MFA add-on.
- **Cirrus Gateway** — The company's first product (launched March 2014), enabling institutions to let users sign in with social/third-party identities such as Google, Facebook and LinkedIn.
- **External User Solutions** — Third-party and social login for applicants, alumni and guests, including guest accounts, account linking, sponsored invitation flows and Slate applicant sign-in extensions.
- **Admin Console & Logs** — Administrative console with federation event logging, a log API and SIEM log streaming for monitoring and compliance.

## Achievements

- Grew from a single-campus expertise base to serving 200+ universities.
- Launched Cirrus Gateway in March 2014, giving campuses social-login capability early.
- Built managed support for multilateral federation (InCommon, eduGAIN, CAF, GakuNin) that most commercial IdPs do not offer.
- Listed on AWS Marketplace (Cirrus SAML Bridge for Duo SSO).
- Described in the community as 'the Swiss army knife of digital identity management.'

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Published customer implementation updates and guidance on configuring the Cirrus Enterprise Bridge for REFEDS Assurance.
- **2026-04** — Blog guidance on updating and managing certificates for federated deployments.
- **2025-01** — Announced a partnership to improve Microsoft Entra ID integrations in higher education.

## Links

- Website: https://cirrusidentity.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/cirrus-identity
- Twitter/X: http://twitter.com/cirrusidentity
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/cirrusidentity

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/cirrus-identity
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-06