Bowstreet introduced the initial draft of the DSML specification. The founding members at the time were IBM, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle and the Sun-Netscape Alliance. Many organizations, including the founding members of DSML.org have signed up to work on the technical committe, which will further develop the DSML standard. Click here for further information regarding this group. With a recognized standard, applications can be written to make use of DSML and capture the scalability, replication, security and management strengths of directory services.
Directories are the best tools for managing the meta-data about resources.
DSML is the markup language that provides the missing piece that allows these two to work together, and provides a common ground for all XML-based applications to make better use of directories. DSML is an XML-Schema, not an access protocol. DSML still depends on an access protocol such as LDAP to get data from individual directories. DSML provides a standard for creating XML documents from the information that LDAP delivers. DSML will enable customers to use directory information from, and exchange directory information with, their customers and partners, regardless of the specific directories at the remote sites.