FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Jane Smeloff
The Open Group
(617) 621-8997
smeloff@opengroup.org
http://www.opengroup.org

The Open Group Announces
Two DCE/LDAP Integration Projects

Projects will integrate DCE naming services with the widely adopted
LDAP (the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol)

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (January 27, 1997) - The Open Group, a leading organization for the advancement of open systems, today announced two collaborative development projects that will allow applications developed with its Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) to take advantage of LDAP naming services. As a result, DCE users will be able to choose the directory services that best meet their enterprise computing needs.

“The LDAP extensions to DCE support the planned evolution of DCE as the premier provider of middleware services, focusing on the areas of the Internet, the Web, and secure client-server technologies,” said Dave Lounsbury, vice president of Collaborative Development at The Open Group. “The increased flexibility is a boon to users and administrators by allowing customer choice of directory configurations, a greater selection of products to fill the directory service need, and an opportunity to consolidate the administration of directory information.”

One of the Pre-Structured Technology (PST) projects will allow DCE to set up multi-cell configurations through the use of widely available and low-cost LDAP servers without incurring the cost of setting up the X.500 or DNS (Domain Naming Service) global name service. The DCE Global Directory Agent (GDA) provides intercell naming through either X.500 or DNS directory services. The DCE GDA will be enhanced to include LDAP as a mechanism for accessing a global directory service. By taking advantage of the proliferation of LDAP on the Internet, for example, users will be able to take advantage of the LDAP infrastructure and reduce administrative costs.

The other PST project will allow DCE to use naming services that are accessible via the LDAP application programming interface (API). The DCE’s Naming Service Interface (NSI) will be enhanced so that it can call the LDAP API and use LDAP operations along with, or instead of, those used by the DCE Cell Directory Service.

Each PST will provide a portable implementation on one or more platforms.

Participants in the two collaborative development projects are Digital Equipment Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Company and IBM. The Open Group will oversee each project.

“I’m excited that IBM’s LDAP contribution to The Open Group is marrying DCE and Internet technologies to deliver distributed, enterprise-wide solutions to our customers,” said Phyllis Byrne, vice president, Distributed Systems Services for IBM. “This affords our customers the opportunity to use a wide variety of enhanced directory services based on the emerging Internet standard, LDAP.”

"HP is delighted to be part of DCE's evolution toward becoming more Internet-enhanced and Internet-ready by integrating with the LDAP naming services. This new protocol option definitely will extend the enterprise to the Internet, enabling increased business opportunities for our customers," said Carol G. Mills, general manager of HP's Enterprise Systems Division. "Additionally, LDAP integration with DCE enhances the flexibility of the customer's computing infrastructure, which translates into increased investment protection."

“Digital’s experience with directory services spans more than a decade, providing customers with products such as the DCE Cell Directory Services, X.500 with built-in LDAP support, and the LDAP-based InfoBroker,” said Tim Yeaton, director, Commercial Products Group, UNIX Business Segment, Digital Equipment Corporation. “Digital is pleased to work with its Open Group partners to help promote the use of LDAP as the acknowledged industry directory access protocol,” Yeaton added.

DCE is a rich set of software technologies available from The Open Group. The technology enables the development of distributed applications across heterogeneous systems. Those applications, in turn, allow companies to take advantage of the far-reaching benefits of open, distributed computing. Today countless users worldwide rely on DCE to support sophisticated distributed applications in a wide variety of industries -- automotive, financial services, petrochemicals, telecommunications, insurance, pharmaceuticals, engineering, manufacturing, retail/wholesale, transportation, utilities, as well as government and academia.

LDAP , a de facto standard from the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force), is becoming the universal language for directories used in Internet and intranet applications. Most major directory service providers have announced plans to release LDAP-enabled products.

The Open Group is a trademark of the Open Software Foundation, Inc. and X/Open Company Ltd. UNIX is a registered trademark in the US and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Ltd. All other products or company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only, and may be trademarks of their respective owners.