NEW YORK—Microsoft is hardly the only vendor working to assemble the technology pieces that could comprise next-generation digital identity management platforms.
Next week, Red Hat is planning to release into open source the Netscape Directory technology it acquired in September 2004. That is according to Joanne Rohde, Red Hat executive vice president, who spoke on a panel here on open source.
The panel was one of three held Tuesday, and was sponsored jointly by the Information Technology Association of America and Nasdaq.
Rohde told panel attendees that Red Hat will release the directory technology on June 1, which just happens to be the day that the Red Hat Summit 2005 kicks off in New Orleans.
When contacted for additional details, a Red Hat spokeswoman said: “We cannot confirm the time frame for the release of Directory Server.”
The spokeswoman did note that when Red Hat releases the directory, it will be made available under the GNU GPL (General Public License), as Red Hat committed to do when it acquired the technology from Time Warner.
Red Hat is expected to detail more specifics regarding its directory server product and plans at next weeks Summit.
According to the agenda for the show, Red Hat is planning to rename the Netscape Directory Server the “Red Hat Directory Server.” Red Hat officials are slated to detail the LDAP-based directory servers single-authentication, user-identity management and multimaster replication capabilities.
Red Hat officials also will share information on the Web-based desktop applications that come with the Red Hat Directory Server, including a centralized phone book, employee locator and org-chart tool.