The directory server increases Red Hat’s presence among such competitors as Sun Microsystems, Novell’s SuSE Linux and Microsoft, all of which have proprietary products in the server-software market.
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 In an effort to build a broader platform for the enterprise, open-source specialist Red Hat is introducing a Linux-based directory server for handling identity-management tasks.The code is being offered to the open-source community under the GPL license, and is earmarked as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the HP-UX 11i operating system and HP 9000 servers, as well as Solaris systems from Sun.Each of these offerings is supported for five years and includes access to updates and upgrades for Red Hat subscribers.Fedora Project UnveiledIn launching the directory server, Red Hat also is creating the Fedora Directory Server project, with the Fedora directory model replicating the Fedora Linux Project by making server technology available to the open-source community in an effort to boost the creation of reliable identity data storage.The new server is based on technology Red Hat purchased last year from Netscape.In the near term, Red Hat plans to open source additional technologies acquired from AOL and Netscape. The products, derived from the Netscape Enterprise Suite, include Netscape Directory Server and Netscape Certificate Management System.Battling for BusinessThe directory server increases Red Hat’s presence among such competitors as Sun Microsystems, Novell’s SuSE Linux and Microsoft, all of which have proprietary products in the server-software market.Essentially, it centralizes application settings, user profiles, group data and other information. A Certificate Management System authenticates the identity of users and protects privacy during communications.”The strategy for Red Hat is (to) offer a complete enterprise platform based on Linux and open source, and to do that they have to provide ID management capabilities for the server,” said Michael Goulde of Forrester Research, pointing out that the company already offers local directory technology.Goulde gave the Netscape technology high marks for innovation in the server software space. “Now they can give it to the open-source community and move it forward by drawing the interest of a larger group of developers,” he said.Red Hat said the Directory Server for Enterprise Linux 3 and 4 will be available next month. |
