Integrated Systems: Enterprise Harmony

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June 1, 1998

Integrated Systems: Enterprise Harmony

Directory services are becoming central to the operations of the networked enterprise

By Monua Janah

growing number of companies are implementing enterprisewide directories as key building blocks of their integrated system architectures. These directories can unify scattered and propr ietary systems, give users easier access to computing resources, and lay the groundwork for interconnected applications that support E-commerce and supply-chain business processes.

The drive to bring together business partners and suppliers in an integrated supply chain is requiring unified directories that can track users, system resources, and data traversing companies' interconnected networks. And the great move to E-business requires directories that let companies securely carry out thousands of Web transactions every hour (see sidebar, " Directories And Digital Certificates ").

Companies such as Ford, Health First, New York Life, and Parsons Engineering & Constructors are implementing enterprise directories to streamline their system administration, integrate disparate application environments, and cut the cost of system management.

Emerging Products
Vendors are responding to customer demand for integrated directo ry capabilities in a number of ways. Operating-system vendors Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, and Novell, for example, are implementing the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol standard in their products. LDAP is a TCP/IP-based protocol that lets clients query and manage information in a directory.

Networking equipment vendor Cisco Systems is adding LDAP support to its routers. Application server vendors such as Netscape and Net Dynamics, and new Web applications like Oblix IntraPower, use LDAP as the means of integrating multiple applications and computing environments into a coherent whole.

A directory is a specialized repository that contains lists of system users and their access rights. It also functions as a kind of network white pages, giving users a simple way to locate applications, print services, and other computing resources. The directory also plays a role in system administration, providing IT managers a listing of all the hardware and software assets in a far-flung enterprise. M ost important, a directory is a tool to integrate applications and business units that have functioned as standalone systems in the past.

Today, directories exist in a multitude of applications ranging from a network operating system and asset management system to E-mail and database applications. The cost of implementing and administrating these disparate and often proprietary directories is great. That's why many companies are moving to implement a single, master directory that can integrate these diverse systems.

The business value of a unified directory is compelling: the elimination of redundancy and the automation of business processes across an entire enterprise.

Ford uses directory services as the cornerstone of an extranet that brings together dealers and suppliers in the first wave of what will eventually be a comprehensive E-business system. The LDAP-based directories in use at Ford contain more than 200,000 entries of users and system resources and will continue to grow as the company finds new uses for them.

The directories provide a centralized repository and a single point of administration for information about people, sites, conference rooms, application controls, and other resources, says Jeff Liedel, manager of enterprise security technologies at Ford.