The Burton Group releases meta-directory services report; Report defines baseline functionality for the meta-directory

Business Wire, Feb 26, 1996

MIDVALE, Utah--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 26, 1996--The Burton Group Monday announced that it has published The Burton Group Report document "Directory Services Strategic Overview: Meta-Directory Services."

The report defines the baseline functionality of meta-directory services, which are directory services that are designed to integrate the multiple application-specific and NOS-based directories that are proliferating in today's organizations.

"Since we identified the need for meta-directory services in The Burton Group Report document 'Directory Services Strategic Overview: The Advent of Directory-Enabled Computing,' the term has gained widespread usage," said Jamie Lewis, president of The Burton Group.

"As result, we decided it was time to define the baseline functionality of meta-directory services, given both their importance and the imminent arrival of products that claim meta-directory functionality. Any network planner considering the job of directory synchronization needs to understand the concept of meta-directory services, and should read this report."

According to the report, meta-directory services are an essential component for the transition to distributed computing. By integrating and making multiple directories more manageable for administrators and more accessible for end users, meta-directory services will allow organizations to create a larger whole out of the fragments of information that exist in multiple directories today.

The report studies the implications of directory integration, including not only the technological problem of directory synchronization, but the organizational and political realities of implementing such a distributed system.

For example, directory management is a widely distributed function in most organizations, making top-down, centralized management models hard to implement. Because of that reality, the report states, meta-directory services must allow organizations to employ both centralized and decentralized directory management models, simultaneously if necessary.

Prepared by Burton Group analysts Craig Burton and Jamie Lewis, "Directory Services Strategic Overview: Meta-Directory Services" is part of The Burton Group Information Service, a comprehensive network technology planning resource for IT professionals. It is available separately for $395. Members of the press can receive complimentary copies.

Founded in 1989, The Burton Group is an information services company specializing in emerging network computing issues. The company addresses the need for comprehensive analysis and understanding of complex networking issues through The Burton Group Information Service, which includes The Burton Group Report and The Burton Group News Analysis.

The company also provides a forum in which network users and vendors can come together to address networking issues in the annual Burton Group Conference on Network Computing, which will be held July 14-17 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

For more information, call: 800/824-9924.

CONTACT: The Burton Group, Midvale

Corrinne Rice, crice@tbg.com