In last month's column, I described why Internet-based email, which relies on the SMTP and POP standards, will eventually replace enterprise email systems based on proprietary protocols. But that can't occur until a viable solution to the directory services problem is developed.
This isn't just an email issue - directory services are also needed for other network services, including file service, access to databases, Web pages, objects, etc. While a number of different directory solutions have been proposed, none has "caught on" in a major way. Managers in large enterprises have been frustrated by their inability to find a single, deployable, standards-based directory service that truly meets their needs.
Fortunately, there is some good news in this area; products based on the relatively new Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) will soon be available. But to understand why LDAP is so important and why it is likely to emerge as the best solution, it is important to understand the issues associated with multivendor network directory services, why previously developed solutions services such as X.500 have not achieved widespread acceptance and why solutions like Domain Name System (DNS) and Internet search engines are just partial solutions.
Unmet Requirements
If you use a telephone book analogy, directory services consist of "white pages" and "yellow pages." The former enable users to determine the location or address of a particular network resource (e.g., a particular person's mailbox account), and they assume that the user already …
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