History of AAD Connect

Is this true, that AAD Connect is older than 10 years?

The short answer is yes.

 

The longs answer is not that easy, look why:

Microsoft acquired tow companies based in Canada:

Linkage Software (LinkAge Directory Exchange LDE)

and

Zoomit Corporation (Via).

 

Based on these product the 1st release of the sync tool was born:

Microsoft Metadirectory Server

 

After this there are several rebrands:

1. Microsoft Metadirectory Server (MMS) (1999–2003)
2. Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003 Enterprise Edition (MIIS)
3. Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003 Feature Pack (IIFP)
4. Microsoft Identity Lifecycle Manager Server 2007 (ILM)
5. Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager 2010 (FIM)
6. Microsoft Identity Manager 2016 (MIM)

 

There is no more public available information about: MMS, MIIS, IIFP or ILM.

 

Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager 2010 (FIM). There is still a version history page: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/2229.fim-2010-build-overview.aspx

There was small spin off of the product: SharePoint User Profile Synchronization

 

Based on FIM 2010 the 1st cloud sync tool: DirSync was published. This was quite similar to FIM 2010, where sync rules and provisioning extensions were present and the sync rules were configured in the management agent itself.

Some times later Azure AD Sync was released in 2014 with the version: 1.0.419.0911

see here:https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/hybrid/reference-connect-version-history-archive#104190911 

 

This tool was then rebranded to the current name: AAD Connect in June 2015

see here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/hybrid/reference-connect-version-history-archive#1086410

 

And the big brother is still around: Microsoft Identity Manager 2016 (MIM) :

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-identity-manager/microsoft-identity-manager-2016

As we can see here, the about page contains some referrals to the older version “Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager 2010 R2”

Happy Troubleshooting!