Your I-Name can be used as a single-sign-on OpenID identifier.

Note: As XRI is an optional OpenID extension, not all OpenID relying parties support it properly.

Other people can send you messages at =web*yourname/(+contact).

This has the following advantages:

• People can contact you just by knowing your I-Name. They do not need to know your e-mail address.
• Your privacy is improved because your e-mail address is never exposed when someone sends you a message through your Contact Page.
• If the sender has their own I-Name, it gets authenticated during the process, so you can be sure that the sender really is who they claim to be.

You can configure a custom description on your personal Contact Page.

You can configure arbitrary forwarding mappings for your I-Name, making it easy for people to reach you through a number of different channels just by knowing your I-Name.

For example:

• =web*yourname/(+email): This could map to your e-mail address.
• =web*yourname/(+blog): This could map to your weblog.
• =web*yourname/(+skype): This could map to your skype account.

If enabled, the Forwarding I-Service also supports an index page at =web*yourname/(+index), where people can discover a list of all your mappings.

You can indicate your current physical location to other people at =web*yourname/(+locator).

After you manually enter the name of your current location in our configuration interface (e.g. "Paris, France") your Locator Page will display a description, the coordinates and a map.

Every I-Name has an associated personal XDI context and XDI endpoint.

XDI Messaging can be used to talk to this endpoint and to perform various XDI operations on it.

Note: This is an experimental service. It is likely to change.

See the following links for more information about XDI:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XDI: Wikipedia on XDI
• http://wiki.oasis-open.org/xdi/XdiRdfModel: The XDI RDF Model
• http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/xdi: OASIS XDI Technical Committee

Every I-Name has an associated private/public key pair.

You can programmatically retrieve your own private key by using your I-Name password, and other people can discover your public key just by knowing your I-Name.

Therefore, a global PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) is established, which can be used for sending messages and for similar purposes.

Note: This is an experimental service. It is likely to change.

Third parties can extend the functionality of your I-Name by registering additional services in your I-Name configuration.

This is achieved using the OAuth protocol. Any external configuration change to your I-Name has to be authorized by you.

Note: This is an experimental service. It is likely to change.

See the following links for more information about OAuth:

• http://oauth.net/: Information about the OAuth protocol
• http://oauth.freexri.com/: Specific information about our OAuth endpoint
• http://busystatus.com/: A demo third party service that can be registered with your I-Name
• http://buzymazterz.com/: A demo third party service that can be registered with your I-Name