David
I wouldn't say that NDS is the only thing to manage heterogenous environments, but I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with you and say that it's about the only option available today.
I see you've got some heavy UNIX experience. What would you put forward as the unifying management enviroment? NIS? - Nope, not enough acceptance. DNS? - far too specific for it's function. LDAP? Way too immature - that's why Novell is offering some of it's offerings for server to server replication to the IETF to advance the standard to the base-level that we've achieved. Active Directory? Give me a break. NT only, forget anything else. NetWare isn't going away, neither is UNIX, nor Mainframes - you will *never* obtain a shipping, supported product from MSFT or Cisco that supports *any* environment other than NT., so there's the heterogenous bit flushed down the pan right away for that particular little marketing effort.
So what is the alternative? LDAP 3,4,5 or whatever? DNS+, NIS++. I hate to dissapoint you, but at this stage, the only company near to delivering any sort of cross-platform directory is Novell with NDS.
You'll probably crucify me for even attempting to suggest all this - but I have yet to be shown a technology that has the same degree of penetration and control over heterogenous environemnts that NDS has. If you know better, please tell me.
Regards
Peter
NB This is a purely technical discussion - I can't answer questions on Strategy, Direction or whatever you choose to call it.
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