Achieve return on investment with directory management solution

With the rapid growth of company intranets and the impending e-commerce explosion, corporate directories are tipped to be the next wave of the future - an express route to the information superhighway. Bringing massive cost savings, a return on investment and an efficient means of managing today's corporate jungle of data, the newly-launched Siemens DirX Meta Directory is taking the lead in unifying corporate directories and making mobile business more efficient.

International research by the Burton Group says the average return on investment on a directory is 5-to-1 and up, as directories increasingly become an expected core capability for business.

Says Chief Operating Officer of Siemens Telecommunications, Pete da Silva: "The problem today is no longer whether information you need exists, but rather how to find that information. Every company stores data about employees, customers, networks, devices and services but most of this information is stored in different directories. And each directory is maintained separately - this despite the fact that the same data is often needed in parallel in multiple directories".

Forrester recently found, in a survey of 50 of the world's 1000 largest corporates, that they use an average of 180 different directories, maintained separately, despite considerable overlap.

Incorporating data management tools into the mobile business model, the DirX Meta Directory, is a unified interface that logically combines all data into a single point of entry.

The benefits of using the Meta directory in the workplace, explains da Silva, are numerous: costs are lowered through increased effectiveness, paper directories are reduced or eliminated and secure data exchange is provided. "The accessibility and quality of information is also improved - by giving employees faster and more reliable search options at every workstation or communications device, valuable IT resources are freed up, thereby increasing competitiveness in the marketplace - and company investments are protected through an increased performance of systems.

How it works

The DirX Meta Directory works by automatically collecting the data it needs from your existing directories and compiling one single entry with all the information on an employee, a computer, a network or a customer. This single, commonly accessible information resource sits on top of all existing directories, providing a unified view over all the organizations directory information. Changes only have to be entered once and are automatically reflected in all linked directories. In addition, users can be empowered to edit their own entities.

At the same time, a Meta Directory makes the data available from within the existing user environment, providing seamless access from existing client applications such as e-commerce, security, internet and human resource applications, for example Microsoft Office and Lotus Notes, SAP and PeopleSoft, Oracle, Informix, Sybase and other relational databases that support ODBC.

In addressing the safety concerns of transacting online, DirX manages the public keys needed for a public Key Infrastructure (PKI), playing a central role in secure data interchange. This allows companies to grant access privileges for parts of their corporate data to selected partners and customers, providing for the seamless sharing of selected directory information between organisations. All products of the Dir X Meta Directory family support SSL/TSL (Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security) for secure data communications.

Other highlights of the DirX Meta Directory include an XML (Extensible Markup Language) interface and a new Java-based graphical user interface (GUI). The standardised, widely used XML enables data to be transferred between open and proprietary formats and is the basic prerequisite for linking to e-business applications. The Java-based GUI simplifies and accelerates administration, particularly in defining and configuring synchronisation processes with the connected directories.

The meta engine, DirXmetahub, also supports the freely available DSML (Directory Services Markup Language), a derivative of XML that has emerged as an open standard for typical directory information. The XML agent of DirXmetahub searches all XML files for information that is relevant to a directory, for example a phone number, address or a digital signature. It ignores all other information. The generic XML agents enable Siemens DirXmetahub to supply all e-business applications that are based on XML - or speak XML - with data from the Meta directory, and to read out data of relevance to the Meta directory. The advantage over the use of special agents for individual systems is the far greater connectivity and lower implementation effort. In addition, the DirXmetahub XML agent offers a speedy, direct link to the LDAP directory server, for example DirX, through direct conversion of the data to LDAP format.

Addressing mobility

The DirX Meta Directory and its WAP interface also provides the perfect solution for today's increasingly mobile workforce, making it possible for employees to be contacted anywhere at any time and, in turn, allowing those on the move to access customer or corporate information, or to track down colleagues.

Picture a typical scenario: a top executive is on the run between meetings and catching flights and needs to access important corporate literature or reach a colleague back at the office, all in the spare five minutes he has before boarding the plane. Connected to his company's DirX Meta Directory, he simply enters, on his WAP-enabled phone, the colleague's name and all communication addresses are displayed - if still unable to make contact by phone, numerous other options are listed - email, fax, SMS or putting the call through to a secretary or the next most appropriate person. This system streamlines the often unnecessary and timely communication processes that traditionally take place, avoiding also a situation where every user has to maintain their own electronic phone directory.

As an integrator of directories, in co-operation with solution partners, Siemens provides the complete Meta Directory - from analysis, design, planning and phased installation through to staff training. DirX also forms the basis for the Siemens corporate directory, a worldwide directory with approximately 300 000 entries. Da Silva concludes: "One can have information, but it doesn't work for you if it is not used properly. It is our intent to provide our customers with 'working information'. The DirX Meta Directory solution is unique in its capability to manage and organise the flow of data, providing users with useful, workable information."