Chris Stone, Novell senior vice president, agrees. There will be consolidation. Replication vs. synchronization Microsoft's absence from the DIF announcement in a sense creates two factions, with Novell and IBM on one side and Microsoft on the other. Burton said Microsoft has some philosophical concerns. Specifically, the Redmond, Wash., company does not share the view that replication, governed by LDUP, is a realistic goal.
Replication requires a high degree of symmetry between the communicating directories.
It's a hard problem and Microsoft has some legitimate concerns. It's not clear if replication is feasible in these huge multivendor environments. Then there are the usual vendor politics as well. Indeed, today's announcements are rife with political sideshows. For example, one of Microsoft's key directory partners, Cisco, endorsed DIF, which could cause tension between two vendors that have tried to remain close allies despite pressure from users who want Cisco to endorse Novell technology as well.