The Need for a Directory in Your Application Today, directories exist in a multitude of applications ranging from operating systems, asset management systems, PBX's, badge security systems, and HR Systems to email and database applications. The cost of implementing and administrating these disparate, proprietary directories is great because each one must be managed independently. This adds enormous administrative burden and cost to already strained IT budgets. Rather than pouring more money and resources into managing these systems, IT departments are requiring that applications support LDAP, the clear directory standard. LDAP-compliant systems leverage a single, master directory that owns all user, group and access control information.
Unified directories eliminate redundancy which lowers management costs.
In addition, unified directories ensure that applications can run within and without of an organization so that partners, customers and vendors may participate in network applications where appropriate. A growing number of companies are implementing enterprise-wide directories as key building blocks of their integrated systems architectures. These directories unify scattered proprietary systems, give users easier access to computing resources and lay the groundwork for interconnected applications that support the gamut of apps, including ecommerce and supply-chain business processes. For example, a company wanting to bring together business partners and suppliers in an integrated chain needs a unified directory to track users, system resources and data traversing the companies' interconnected networks. And the great move to E-business requires directories that let companies securely carry out thousands of Web transactions every hour.