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Press Release

The Open Group Launches Independent Directory Certification Program

Updated Program Meets Urgent Need for Interoperability in the Burgeoning Marketplace of Lightweight Directory Access Protocol Products

San Francisco, CA – July 22, 2003 – The Open Group’s Directory Interoperability Forum today announced the launch of its LDAP Certified program, the only independent certification program addressing the need for standard LDAP servers that drive application interoperability.

“The LDAP Certified designation proves a vendor is conforming to the industry’s LDAP standards, so it is an assurance of interoperability,” said Allen Brown, President and CEO of The Open Group. “For customers, this means that the server they purchase supports the LDAP functionality that most of their directory-enabled applications use currently or will use in the near future.”

Applications bearing the complementary LDAP Ready mark will guarantee interoperability with LDAP Certified directories. The LDAP Ready program will debut in Fall 2003.

To date, Computer Associates, IBM Corporation, Nexor, and Novell, Inc. have LDAP-Certified their directory server products. These vendors warrant compliance of their products with the LDAP Certified product standard, and have tested their products with the Verification Suite for LDAP (VSLDAP). VSLDAP was developed by The Open Group and includes 135 tests for BASE level conformance.

Value of Certification to Vendors

Computer Associates (www.ca.com)

“The interoperability of LDAP-enabled solutions is vital for companies that want to exploit the synergies between their enterprise applications and those of their business partners,” said Bilhar Mann, Director of Identity and Access Management for CA. “As the industry leader in highly scalable backbone directory implementations that bridge disparate directories via LDAP, and the provider of certified solutions, CA strongly supports the work of The Open Group in this area.”

IBM Corporation (www.ibm.com)

”As customers leverage identity management software to automate their business processes, reduce costs and bolster security, open standards like LDAP play a vital role in enabling applications and systems to work together seamlessly,” said Joe Anthony, director of Integrated Identity Management, Tivoli Software, IBM. “As a founding member of the Directory Interoperability Forum, IBM’s certification of the IBM Directory Server only reaffirms IBM’s long-term commitment to promoting and supporting industry standards.”

Nexor (www.nexor.com)

”With growing user communities, LDAP Certification readily answers the increasing demand for interoperability within the directory marketplace,” explained Liz Thomas at Nexor. ”To ensure IT investments are being protected we are seeing an increasing number of customers looking to adhere to standards and select solutions that can expand with their business. This is why Nexor is so firmly committed to LDAP Certification. A product bearing the LDAP Certified mark not only guarantees conformance but also offers customers valuable insurance against interoperability conflicts both now and in the future. We are delighted to have been named as one of the first companies to achieve certification.”

Novell, Inc. (www.novell.com)

“This certification will promote far better interoperability between LDAP-based applications and the directories that provide identity to those applications,” said Eldon Greenwood, Vice President of Novell Common Engineering Services. “Certification is a win-win scenario—it gives consumers a touchstone for judging an LDAP application’s compatibility with an LDAP directory while demonstrating to the directory community Novell’s leadership, commitment and compliance to Open Standards.”

Background on LDAP Certified

The LDAP-Certified program was developed through a year of collaboration among the many server and application members of the Directory Interoperability Forum. The LDAP specifications produced by the IETF define many protocol features. Few servers implement all of them. The DIF identified the features that are commonly provided by servers and used by applications in the marketplace. These features are described in The Open Group publication “LDAP Features for Certification” and the requirements for compliance are detailed in the LDAP Certified Product Standard. To be certified, a server must support those features, and to be sure of interoperability, an application should use only those features.

The LDAP Certified program replaces the previously available Open Brand for LDAP 2000 certification from The Open Group. This updated certification is better designed to match the functionality provided by servers and used by applications in today’s marketplace.

Dr. Christopher J. Harding, Director of The Open Group’s Directory Interoperability Forum, noted: “When applications and directories are designed with a standard interface, an enterprise can more easily integrate new applications with existing systems creating a plug-and-play infrastructure, make systems interoperate with business partners’ systems, and produce lower overall total cost of ownership. This is the goal of our Directory Interoperability Forum.”

[Note: the work of the DIF has now been taken over by the Identity Management Forum.]

About The Open Group

The Open Group, a vendor-neutral and technology-neutral consortium, has a vision of Boundaryless Information Flow achieved through global interoperability in a secure, reliable and timely manner. The Open Group’s mission is to drive the creation of Boundaryless Information Flow by working with customers to capture, understand and address current and emerging requirements, establish policies, and share best practices; working with suppliers, consortia and standards bodies to develop consensus and facilitate interoperability, to evolve and integrate specifications and open source technologies; offering a comprehensive set of services to enhance the operational efficiency of consortia; and developing and operating the industry's premier certification service and encouraging procurement of certified products.

About The Directory Interoperability Forum (DIF)

The Directory Interoperability Forum's mission is to drive product and vendor interoperability based on open standards: interoperability between directory servers, within applications and between the servers and applications themselves. Its members are the vendors that create these products and the enterprises that use them. By working together, they determine how these technologies can provide increasing value and help guide developers how to build them. By keeping the entire directory community involved, the DIF increases the collective value of technology and expands the number of products that freely interoperate. DIF members participate in a variety of initiatives in addition to standards development, including Identity Management, and the Mobile and Directory Challenge.