Any user contemplating building a global directory based on the
Windows 2000 Active Directory could face the prospect of a complex
integration project, writes Cliff Saran.
Microsoft is developing tools and services for directory
integration from its purchase of directory software company ZoomIt
late last year. But Stuart Okin, a managing consultant at
Microsoft, says, "Directory integration could take anywhere between
a few weeks to a year."
Integration through bidirectional synchronisation between
existing directories and the Active Directory is essential in order
to take full advantage of Windows 2000 within an existing IT
infrastructure.
Microsoft has rebadged the ZoomIt Via product as the Microsoft
Meta-Direc-tory and will be offering enterprise users services for
customising how data is shared between com-pany-wide directories,
says Okin.
Through the Meta-Directory users will be able to create business
rules for defining how information is propagated between
directories.
IBM, which is planning a major drive with users for Windows 2000
has admitted that there is still a problem with synchronising
information back and forth between the Active Directory and other
enterprise directories.
But Adam Jollans, European marketing manager for at IBM
responsible for Windows NT, notes that directories are still a
problem for Windows 2000.
IBM has developed a tool called Secureway which acts as a
meta-directory alongside other enterprise directories and exchanges
information with the Active Directory.
IBM hopes to make Secureway available on all its platforms.
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