In the annals of directory services, 1997 will be remembered as the year when LDAP became the gold standard of directory access protocols. But despite its open standards and cross-platform support, the value of a directory service continues to be measured by the number of client and server applications that take advantage of its services--and their level of integration with the directory. In this regard, Novell Directory Services remains the king of the directory services hill.

With its complete integration into the NetWare NOS, its support for Microsoft Windows95, Windows NT and Apple MacOS desktops, and a suite of NDS-aware applications, Novell Directory Services is still the most mature, scalable and forward-looking directory service on the market. Like nearly every non-LDAP directory, NDS includes LDAP support (through an add-on module).

We've seen many fine directory-service products in our labs this year, but only NDS delivers a fully integrated, hierarchical directory service with integrated security and effective management tools.

Novell Directory Services, $1,095, as a component of NetWare (5 users),
Novell,
(801) 861-7000.
www.novell.com/products/nds