MetaConnect unifies existing corporate data for effective intranet and Internet use and enables an organization to provide accurate, up-to-date information to employees, customers and trading partners. This product family manages the connections to dissimilar databases, applications and directories and joins the information together in one meta-directory that can be centrally managed as a unified resource across the enterprise.
The need for a unified directory infrastructure is essential for organizations that desire a leadership position in the global electronic economy. ISOCOR's MetaConnect family of products is the first solution that delivers the full meta-directory functionality necessary to compete in the e-commerce arena. With business to business electronic commerce expected to grow to more than US$70 billion by 2001, meta-directory solutions will be a differentiating factor between success and failure for many companies.
"The need for enterprise directory integration has escalated," said Dan Blum, analyst with The Burton Group. "I'm impressed with the event-driven, modular architecture of this product. It's extremely well-designed."
Keith Brown from Duke University said, "The industry is ready for this type of architecture. At the university, we have a decentralized environment that makes MetaConnect very attractive. We expect to reap many benefits from a meta-directory infrastructure and MetaConnect seems to possess the flexibility and power to help us build this." The ability to join objects together differentiates directory synchronization from a meta-directory. MetaConnect's join creates a single directory entry that contains or references information from the various applications and systems connected to the meta-directory.
"The product has more capabilities than I expected," said Jim May from Texas Instruments. "MetaConnect offers incredible opportunities and promises to solve many of our meta-directory problems." ISOCOR's new product promises to integrate smoothly with myriad corporate environments. It is compatible with most existing Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory servers, including Microsoft Active Directory, Netscape Directory Server and ISOCOR's Global Directory Server.
"The product looks very promising," said Nick Williams, senior project manager from SmithKline Beecham. "It offers a way to integrate all our various databases directories, applications and systems." Using industry standard protocols and mechanisms such as LDAP Version 3 (LDAPv3) and Open Database Connectivity, MetaConnect provides open access to a variety of information sources. The product also can be customized, using standard scripting languages, including Perl, allowing an organization to use existing programming resources to further reduce the cost of enterprise-wide meta-directory deployment.
"There are many benefits inherent in this meta-directory solution," said Karl Klessig, vice president of marketing and strategic alliances at ISOCOR. "MetaConnect reduces costs of information infrastructure development and administration; it improves internal and external business communications; it heightens the security of corporate information and minimizes the risk of security breaches."
MetaConnect's innovative and open meta-directory architecture revolves around the family of products, which includes the JoinEngine, Universal Connectors, Database Connectors, Messaging Connectors, Network Operating System Connectors, and Application Connectors. The MetaConnect product family consists entirely of ISOCOR Year 2000 compliant products.
The MetaConnect product family consists of a wide range of product components, each of which has different system requirements and is licensed separately. Early adopter customers are deploying MetaConnect now, with general availability expected in Q1 1999.
ISOCOR
ISOCOR (www.isocor.com) is a leading provider of world-class Internet software, supplying high-quality, high-performance software designed to handling an organization's messaging and directory requirements. ISOCOR customers represent Fortune 100 companies and service providers in the manufacturing, telecommunications, financial, government, healthcare, entertainment and other markets around the world. Customers include Texas Instruments, Worldcom Advanced Network Service and New York Life, among others.
Except for the historical information, the matters discussed in this document are forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Such factors include the impact of competitive announcements and products, the rate of growth of the markets in which the Company competes, the effect and rate of change in standards and platforms for messaging products, the risks associated with the year 2000, as well as the risk factors listed from time to time in the Company`s U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports, including but not limited to the report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1997, and/or Form 10-Q for the quarters ended in 1998, copies of which are available from ISOCOR`s Investor Relations Department or through the Electronic Data Gathering Analysis and Retrieval system (EDGAR) at www.sec.gov. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements included in this document.
ISOCOR and N-PLEX are registered trademarks of ISOCOR. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
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