Demystifying SASL

["Sasha Romanosky" <sasha_romanosky () yahoo com>]

Hey folks, 

I'm wondering if anyone has either designed or implemented SASL (Simple
Authentication and Security Layer) for authentication over any
protocols, preferably in java.

I'm playing around with various authentication schemes and would like to
explore this further, but I'm a little unclear as to its real value vs.
other security layers.

Thanks in advance.

cheers,
Sasha