The next job is to transition the current demonstration-quality IdP into something that can support production use. This work is under way and is expected to be complete in time for the start of the 2007/08 academic year.
In parallel with this, the UL is registering to use the Shibboleth-to-Athens gateway. Once this is available, they will be able to evaluate using pure-Shibboleth to control access to the electronic resources that they manage, and this will inform their future plans. One option would be to use pure Shibboleth for new arrivals from October 2007 and to transition existing Athens users to Shibboleth before the June 2008 cut-off date. Alternatively if the technology proves insufficiently mature there remains the option of paying to use Athens for one or more years until the situation improves.