Novell, NEXOR form partnership to help secure e-commerce

Novell has announced a partnership with NEXOR, a provider of secure messaging and directory solutions, to integrate X.500 directories, a common directory standard for security, with Novell`s industry leading NDS eDirectory network infrastructure. NEXOR will develop technology to connect X.500 directories to eDirectory using Novell`s DirXML integration software, allowing customers to leverage eDirectory to share and synchronise core corporate data within the enterprise and across the network to e-business partners. The new technology will solve a significant infrastructure challenge in the government, military and financial services sectors, which use X.500 directories extensively for transaction security.

The technology developed through this partnership will allow eDirectory to be fully interoperable with X.500 standard directories and to support the many applications that rely on the X.500 standard protocols including DAP, DSP, and DISP. By extending DirXML support to X.500 directories, Novell helps organisations solve the costly and time-consuming problem of updating and sharing data and information stored in their X.500 directories with other applications, databases and directories, both within the enterprise and in partner systems.

"While eDirectory has always been based on X.500 standards, support for the native X.500 protocols has been missing," said Novell e-business solutions manager James Thomas. "We chose to partner with NEXOR because their X.500 directory expertise allows us to draw on their strength in order to bring a much needed product to market faster. Adding support for these key protocols completes the X.500 standard support in eDirectory allowing our customers to use the industry leading directory service for their standards-based applications."

"Directory interoperability is essential to an organisation`s implementation of critical security systems and services," said Ed Harrington, vice president of business development for NEXOR. "Our partnership with Novell provides their customers with the ability to interoperate with X.500 systems, which are popular worldwide for the management and repository of X.509 security certificates. This opens up new markets for both NEXOR and Novell."

Directories have long been the foundation for managing user identities and devices across networks. They are increasingly becoming essential in eBusiness for network management and security services, giving companies control over who has access to what information, both within and outside the company. Novell has led the directory market for the last nine years with eDirectory, the industry`s most reliable, scalable and secure directory service. It remains the only directory on the market today that works across mixed Windows NT/2000, NetWare, Solaris, Linux, Tru64 Unix and IBM AIX environments, letting customers integrate their heterogeneous networks.

With intranets, extranets, and the Internet merging into a single, unified network, one Net, businesses must expand, manage, and secure their systems to meet the diversified needs of employees, partners and customers. DirXML reduces the complexity, administrative burden and cost of managing a one Net environment, providing a competitive advantage in e-business.

DirXML`s award-winning data-sharing and synchronisation service revolutionises data management within the enterprise and across the firewall by automatically distributing new and updated information across every designated directory and application on an enterprise network and business partner system. For more information about DirXML, please visit www.novell.com/directoryservicesCD.