Novell, of Provo, Utah, also launched in July its Single Sign-on directory technology, which stores identity and authentication information in an NDS database, reducing the number of passwords and other directory entries that IT managers need to administer. Microsoft's Active Directory, an upgraded version of the Windows NT directory, will ship with Windows 2000. In July, Microsoft announced plans to integrate the Zoomit metadirectory into Windows 2000, although the company won't say when. Such enhancements should make it easier for IT managers to make a case for enterprise directories. And most organizations are still missing the ball on how important it is.
Directories are the key to infrastructures today.
A lot to gain No one knows this better than Don Bowen. In 1997, Bowen, the Internet architect at Caterpillar Inc., in Peoria, Ill., managed to convince top brass that they had a lot to gain by implementing a metadirectory. The phone system alone included 40 directories. At Caterpillar, personnel print organizational charts to determine the titles and locations of employees and managers. Using a dynamic organizational chart, Bowen explained that, if an employee's information was incorrect, time was wasted looking for the right data.