Read this one folks. This might put a dent into Novell's NDS plans...
IBM aims to put its directory house in order
By Mary Jo Foley and Ed Sperling, Sm@rt Reseller
December 16, 1998 1:24 PM ET
IBM officials think they've found a way to
bring some interoperability to the myriad
directories in place throughout the company.
The solution, says IBM, is its own
metadirectory technology, which the
company plans to layer on top of its
eNetwork LDAP (Lightweight Directory
Access Protocol) directory service. IBM is
slated to unveil its metadirectory plans today.
The eNetwork directory is IBM's answer to
Novell Inc.'s NDS (Novell Directory
Services) and Microsoft Corp.'s forthcoming
Active Directory. It is based on the engine
that is at the heart of DB2. IBM says it
opted to rely on its own directory, rather
than adopt one of the industry-leading ones,
because NDS and Active Directory aren't
scaleable enough to meet its needs.
But while IBM (IBM) is integrating
eNetwork into its own AIX, OS/400 and
OS/390 operating systems and relying on
eNetwork as the backbone for its NT suites,
not all parts of the company seem to be as
set on making eNetwork their directory
standard.
Tivoli: To NDS or not to NDS?
IBM's metadirectory announcement comes on the heels of its Tivoli
Systems division's endorsement last week of NDS. Tivoli and Novell
announced that in the first quarter of 1999, the two companies will
integrate Tivoli Inventory, Tivoli Software Distribution and Tivoli User
Administration with Novell's NDS.
But IBM's eNetwork officials say that IBM plans to go Tivoli's NDS
integration one better.
"IBM's strategy is to integrate its individual middleware products -- i.e.,
WebSphere, Windows NT Suites and Tivoli -- with LDAP Directory
version 2.1 beginning in 1999," according to a company statement.
And as of this week, Tivoli is shipping a technology preview version of
its LDAP Connection with Tivoli User Administration 3.6, which makes
Tivoli's management products accessible via LDAP and, by extension,
IBM's eNetwork directory.
"Tivoli did not sign a bundling deal with Novell for NDS," said Jamil
Bissar, IBM's directory marketing manager. "Tivoli has its own [engine]
for its data. They haven't made a decision yet to change their internal
directory."
Lotus: Not a sure bet, either
When and whether IBM's Lotus Development Corp. subsidiary will
adopt eNetwork is uncertain as well.
"We've had discussions with Lotus about eNetwork, but the thinking for
now is they'll integrate with eNetwork via the [IBM] metadirectory,"
said Bissar.
Bissar claims that IBM and Lotus are thinking on the same lines,
however, with both viewing LDAP as they key to integration. "The
Domino director will interoperate with eNetwork via programming
interfaces and replication," he said.
The view from inside Lotus, meanwhile, is that no vendor's directory
services will dominate the computing world, so Lotus won't play
favorites unless that situation changes.
"Our directory strategy is to continue to support multiple directories,"
says Ken Bisconti, senior director for communications products
marketing at Lotus. "Most companies don't think the industry will ever
get to a single directory, and no one believes Active Directory or NDS
will be everything."
In the short term, Lotus will add support for the Active Directory
Support Interface, and will support NDS through LDAP. Bisconti says
that if Novell makes great strides in the marketplace, Lotus will
reevaluate its position.
IBM scores some wins
Some parts of IBM are on the eNetwork bandwagon, however. IBM
has announced that its WebSphere Application Servers will include
integrated eNetwork 2.1 support by the time of WebSphere's next
release, which is likely to be in the second quarter of 1999.
And as part of its metadirectory announcement today, IBM is
announcing that seven of its business partners have agreed to integrate
with eNetwork. These partners are Security Dynamics, Persistent
Systems, DAVCOM, Allot Communications, EnCommerce, Netegrity
and Triangulum.
Meanwhile, IBM's Global Services division is reiterating support for
eNetwork by announcing it will provide development, management and
integration support for eNetwork. In addition, IBM is planning a series
of Directory Developer Workshops for education and training in LDAP
technology to be held in Austin, Texas, in the first quarter of next year. |
