es, directories help us create logical networks that we can use as a functional whole.
Problem:
Each network OS (NOS), messaging system, and client/server application uses its own directory. If you use multiple networks, you will log in to different services many times each day. Even worse, network administrators must manage a sea of accounts. As applications become
more distributed, locating applications and resources becomes almost impossible.
Solution:
General-purpose directory services promise to serve multiple applications and OSes, give administrators a centralized administration tool, and offer end users a single place to log in and search for the resources they need. To be effective, general-purpose directories must be interoperable and let us transparently access multiple directories.
Directory Services Tomorrow
As applications become more network-centric, directory services will become a central component of evolving network-centric applications. For example, work-flow application users may rely on directories to find the right people to review a purchase order in an approval cycle. In addition, directories may replace hard-coded uniform resource locators (URLs) -- which are difficult to manage as they change -- as the primary mechanism to find, access, and manage Java applets and ActiveX contr
ols in Internet and intranet applications.
Directory Services Today...and Tomorrow
