Ping Identity^®, the leader in Internet Identity Security, today announced it has joined the OpenID Foundation to help develop, promote and extend digital identity and choice on the Web.   Pam Dingle, a senior technical architect in Ping Identity’s Office of the CTO, will represent the company on the OpenID Foundation’s board of directors. “The marketplace is increasingly looking for open, multi protocol identity solution sets that Ping and other members of the Foundation have innovated,” said Don Thibeau, Executive Director of the OpenID Foundation.  “Ping Identity’s decision to help shape the strategy of the OpenID Foundation signals a phase shift in the evolution of the open identity infrastructure.” Ping Identity is committed to extending the functionality of Internet Single Sign-On across a growing number of critical corporate and consumer communication channels.  As a sustaining member of the OpenID Foundation’s board of directors, Ping Identity joins a distinct group of digital identity thought leaders to accelerate open options for securely managing digital identities. “Protecting digital identities including securing user access is quickly becoming a business and personal imperative,” said Ping Identity CTO Patrick Harding.   “As an OpenID Foundation member, Ping Identity brings almost a decade of Internet SSO experience together with a broad range of security disciplines to help overcome the security and interoperability barriers to long term success.” The OpenID Foundation represents the open community of developers, vendors, and users. The organization assists the community by providing needed infrastructure and help in promoting and supporting expanded adoption of OpenID. This entails managing intellectual property and brand marks as well as fostering viral growth and global participation in the proliferation of OpenID. Ping Identity joins nine other OpenID Foundation corporate board members including Booz Allen Hamilton, Facebook, Google, IBM, Microsoft, PayPal, VeriSign, Yahoo! and LexisNexis.