Novell has announced general availability of DirXML 1.0, Novell NDS eDirectory 8.5, and Novell Account Management 2.1, breakthrough eBusiness infrastructure technology for accelerating business-to-business and business-to-consumer commerce for enterprises, ISPs and ASPs.
According to Novell e-business development manager James Thomas, these new directory technologies from Novell enable companies to build, secure, integrate and maintain highly customised eBusiness relationships with customers, partners and employees over the unified global network - creating one Net. "They provide customers with the necessary infrastructure building blocks to simplify and accelerate their transformation to eBusiness. In partnership with industry-leading Consulting Systems Integrators, Novell`s technology is the first on the market to address crucial new market opportunities such as automatic employee and customer provisioning."
Novell`s new directory products solve key eBusiness problems facing customers today by providing the power and flexibility they need to compete in a market that moves at Net speed. eDirectory remains the only directory on the market to work on all leading operating systems, which significantly simplifies the complexities of managing users and resources in a mixed Win2000, NT, NetWare, and Linux environment.
It is the industry`s only secure, scalable, cross-platform directory service, allowing organisations to centrally store and manage information across all networks and operating systems, and leverages existing IT investments. Novell Account Management (formerly known as NDS Corporate Edition) provides the ability to centrally manage and integrate user account information across mixed platform environments, enabling employees, business partners and customers to work together in a truly integrated manner.
DirXML is powerful new integration software that combines state-of-the-art directory technology with the common language of eBusiness, XML, to power secure cross-platform and cross-network information exchange. DirXML allows core company information to be automatically synchronised and shared between and within enterprises. Through its ability to deliver centralised control over eBusiness processes, DirXML enables organisations to keep up with the intense demands of the Net economy by reducing network management costs and driving new opportunities that elevate relationships with clients and customers.
"eDirectory 8.5 with DirXML will be a secure, efficient means of authenticating visitors to both our consumer Web site and our extranet," said Chris Duffy, Communications Engineer at Rockford Corporation. "eDirectory will recognise our customers and determine the information and applications to which they have access. The value of this solution is that each customer`s experience on our sites will be unique. Customers will automatically be provided with the content and resources most relevant to them, saving time and making for a more positive online experience."
DirXML, eDirectory and Novell Account Management help companies to solve key business problems, such as employee and customer provisioning. According to analyst research, the average organisation has more than 180 databases that contain loads of data. For every change made to this data, a change has to be made in every database to keep it current. This has been a very expensive and error-prone process. Now, for the first time, Novell is fully integrating the directory into eBusiness processes in order to power cross-platform, cross-network information exchange.
"The new release of eDirectory, combined with DirXML and Novell Account Management, demonstrate a major leap ahead of our competition. Through these powerful new technologies, Novell is empowering a new breed of business solutions, including employee provisioning and customisable partner and customer relationship management. These and other diverse business solutions can now take advantage of the management and security of directory-based computing," says Thomas.
"Furthermore, we are putting in place key partnerships with Consulting Systems Integrator and channel partners in order to build the essentials around our Net services software. This is allowing us to provide customers with solutions that solve real business problems allowing them to compete successfully in the new Internet economy."
Novell is partnering with a number of Consulting Systems Integrator partners to provide employee and customer provisioning solutions, universal employee access to the corporate information and applications they need, among other business solutions. These partners include Computer Sciences Corporation, Deloitte & Touche, marchFIRST, and Perot Systems.
"Our clients` see tremendous value in the scalability and cross-platform integration of Novell`s eDirectory," said Robert Wise, Chief Technology Officer, marchFIRST. "Additionally, DirXML accelerates integration of our clients` existing business systems with those of their customers, suppliers and partners."
eDirectory 8.5 includes new features and functionality that make it the ideal platform for eBusiness applications. These include:
Filtered replication
- Delivers a more flexible way for network administrators to tailor and customise data and processes. It filters searches and retrieval, reducing the amount of data that needs to be searched, thereby providing faster results.
iMonitor
- A browser-based monitoring tool that makes it easy for administrators to monitor and trace directory operations throughout the enterprise. Network administrators now have a way to keep an eye on eDirectory activity from anywhere, at anytime.
Tree federation
- A powerful new feature that makes it easier for a company to establish business-to-business commerce by allowing companies to share directory attributes and information with partners, suppliers and customers without having to duplicate databases.
LDAP v3 extensions
- Provides support for the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, version three, the industry`s most widely used protocol for accessing information that resides in directories. LDAP extensions make it easier for administrators and software developers to integrate their applications easily into eDirectory, offering a more simplified way to communicate and interact with the directory.
Enhanced security
- Now includes PKI, NMAS and SSL support.
Extended platform support
- Now includes support for Tru64 Unix from Compaq.
With more than 68.5 million users and the ability to manage billions of objects, Novell`s award-winning eDirectory is the only full-services directory on the market today that can deliver the integration, scale and performance of both an enterprise and Internet directory. According to recent IDC reports, organisations using eDirectory reported better return on investments and improved operational efficiencies and employee productivity gains.
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