Open Membership, New Working Groups Mark Progress of Forum
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The Directory
Interoperability Forum announced today that the Sun-Netscape Alliance has
joined the Forum, bringing to ten the number of participating directory
vendors. The Forum also announced a new membership agreement allowing ISVs,
partners and customers to join the Forum.
In addition, the Forum created two new working groups -- the
Authentication Service Provider (ASP) working group, and the Service Provider
Directory-enabled Network and Application (SP-DNA) working group -- marking
steady progress since the Forum was created in July 1999 with the goal of
speeding development and deployment of directory-enabled applications.
"The work of the Forum is important because it is uniting many different
vendors and application providers around the common goal of directory
interoperability," said Claire Hough, vice president of directory and security
products for the Sun-Netscape Alliance. "We're looking forward to working
with the other member companies, as well as ISVs, customers and partners, to
advance open directory standards and to accelerate directory application
development."
The mission of the new working groups is:
-- Authentication Service Provider working group - Applications that
leverage the directory as an authentication service need a standard
XML-based authentication interface. The ASP working group will address
the needs of applications that need to authenticate user credentials
via a directory infrastructure. The group will develop an XML schema
definition that can be delivered via native Internet protocols such as
HTTP. This working group was proposed by Forum member Netegrity.
-- Service Provider Directory-enabled Network and Application working
group - Directories provide an effective means for storing and
organizing information required to deploy applications. However, when
multiple applications are deployed on the same network, duplicate
information is often stored in multiple directories. The SP-DNA
working group will develop a specification to provide the necessary
framework and guidelines to enable development of third party
applications that share a common directory infrastructure within a
service provider's deployment. This working group was proposed by
Nortel Networks.
Both groups will begin work immediately, with initial drafts of
specifications available in early 2000.
"Nortel Networks is pleased to join the Directory Interoperability Forum
and bring our complementary view of customer requirements to the mix," said
Peter Carbone, vice president and general manager, IP Services and Policy
Products, Nortel Networks. "The Forum promises to help our service provider
customers leverage the value of directory-centric solutions and we're excited
to be an active participant in this work."
Additionally, the Forum members, originally defined as directory
providers, have expanded the Forum's charter to include ISVs, customers and
partners as members.
"The Forum members felt that to most effectively advance development and
deployment of open directories, ISVs and customers should be more tightly
integrated," said Gail Shlansky, Directory Interoperability Forum secretary.
"Service providers have different needs than the financial industry, for
example, and the Forum encourages broad participation."
About the Directory Interoperability Forum
The Directory Interoperability Forum was created in July 1999 to speed
development and deployment of directory-enabled applications that run across
different computing environments. Directory provider members include:
Control Data, Data Connection Limited (DCL), IBM, Innosoft, ISOCOR, Lotus
Development Corp, Novell, Oracle, the Sun-Netscape Alliance and Unisys.
Stressing the importance of open standards, the Forum helps developers create
and bring to market directory-enabled applications based on standards such as
the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). The Forum also helps
companies integrate and adopt new technologies without having to repeatedly
redesign their network infrastructure. More information about the Directory
Interoperability Forum is available at http://www.directoryforum.org.
About the Sun-Netscape Alliance
America Online, Inc. and Sun Microsystems, Inc. formed the Sun-Netscape
Alliance to provide easy to deploy, comprehensive enterprise and e-commerce
solutions to business partners and other companies competing in today's Net
Economy. The Alliance product portfolio provides customers with the
industry's most scalable, integrated infrastructure software and a family of
production ready e-commerce applications. The products are offered on the
industry's most widely available product platforms, including DEC, HP, IBM,
Linux, SGI, Microsoft Windows, and Sun. The alliance software product
portfolio includes: messaging and calendar, collaboration, web, application,
directory, and certificate servers. The Alliance also offers a family of
production-ready applications for e-commerce, including commerce exchange,
procurement, selling, and billing.
About America Online, Inc.
Founded in 1985, America Online, Inc., based in Dulles, Virginia, is the
world's leader in interactive services, Web brands, Internet technologies, and
e-commerce services. America Online, Inc. operates: two worldwide Internet
services, America Online, with more than 18 million members, and CompuServe,
with approximately 2 million members; several leading Internet brands
including ICQ and Digital City, Inc.; the Netscape Netcenter and AOL.COM
portals; and the Netscape Navigator and Communicator browsers. Through its
strategic alliance with Sun Microsystems, the Company develops and offers
easy-to-deploy, end-to-end e-commerce and enterprise solutions for companies
operating in the Net Economy.
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- The Network Is The
Computer(TM) -- has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW), to its
position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and
services that power the Internet and allow companies worldwide to ".com" their
businesses. With $12.4 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more
than 170 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun.com.
SOURCE Sun-Netscape Alliance
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http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/585525.html or fax,
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CONTACT:
Nancy Riley of IBM for the Directory
Interoperability Forum, 919-486-2834, or nriley@us.ibm.com; or
Jennifer Doettling of Sun-Netscape Alliance, 650-937-2804, or
jdoettli@netscape.com
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