Catalyst 99 Looks Beyond Y2K -- Helping Users Plan for a New Economy; Conference Focuses On the New Infrastructure Needed to Support New Business Models.

SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 27, 1999--

-The annual Burton Group Catalyst Conference, hosted in partnership with the Network Applications Consortium (NAC), will dedicate three days to helping enterprise customers prepare for an emerging new economy.

In order to compete in the age of electronic commerce a new enterprise computing infrastructure is required. Attendees will leave Catalyst 99 better equipped for the future by understanding the infrastructure demands of the new economy and how to build the infrastructure. The conference will be held July 12-14 in Lake Tahoe.

"Electronic commerce, extranet applications for supply chain management, and global e-mail communications are imperatives for supporting the emerging business models," said Jamie Lewis, president of The Burton Group.

"Such applications will not scale if they can't leverage general-purpose directory, security, and other infrastructure technologies. Simply put, the companies that focus only on the past and ignore the need to future-proof their infrastructure will find themselves unable to compete in this new economy."

Catalyst 99 will focus on the new infrastructure enterprise customers must build to support the new business models that electronic commerce and extranet connectivity will create. The conference will cover the infrastructure needs of both intra- and extranet applications, examining how organizations can build and leverage distributed infrastructure technologies.

CONFERENCE TOPICS

The conference will devote an entire day to the exploration and discussion of a particular topic. Day One's topic is Leveraging the Directory. It's no longer a question of if you need a directory. It's a question of when you will deploy one, and how you will leverage it.

Day One of Catalyst 99 will focus on how enterprise customers can leverage directory infrastructure through the Directory Enabled Networking initiative (DEN), extranet and e-commerce solutions, and other applications. Microsoft, Netscape and Novell will present their directory strategies and capabilities.

Day Two will be dedicated to Scaling: Security. E-commerce and extranet applications aren't possible without security, but scaling current enterprise security models to meet those needs is a challenge.

Day Two will focus on scalable security, examining the progress in Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) standards and customer deployments, the reality of trading communities and interoperable PKI, how customers can integrate multiple PKIs internally, how enterprises can integrate PKI with other security services internally, and the practicality of single sign-on. Baltimore Technologies, Entrust, IBM, Netegrity and Lockstar will each present their company's approach to security.

Day Three will focus on Projecting the Infrastructure. With the advent of extranets and e-commerce, enterprises must "project" themselves into the Internet economy, which means interoperating with external systems run by partners, customers and suppliers. This means enterprises must build computing infrastructures that can serve both internal and external needs.

Day Three's emphasis will be how companies can bring directory, security and other technologies together to create solid extranet applications, defining the network model for Internet economy. Burton Group analysts and consultants will also examine the strategies of the leading platform vendors that are positioning themselves to battle it out in the market. IBM, Microsoft and Netscape/Sun Alliance will speak about their plans and respond to customer and Burton Group questions.

Pre-Conference Tutorials

This year The Burton Group is introducing pre-Catalyst tutorials on directory and PKI, which will give attendees additional information and background on these important topics. The tutorials will be held Sunday, July 11 from 8:30-12:30 p.m. in Lake Tahoe.

Dan Blum Burton Group senior vice president and principal consultant will present the PKI tutorial and Gary Rowe Burton Group executive vice president and leading directory consultant will present the directory tutorial.

For the latest agenda and speaker information or to register for Catalyst 99 or the pre-Catalyst tutorials visit www.tbg.com/catalyst.

About The Burton Group

The Burton Group is a network planning services company specializing in distributed computing technologies. Through its advisory services, The Burton Group empowers IT professionals, enabling them to make strategic decisions regarding network technology and helping them leverage that technology successfully.

The Network Strategy Service consists of in-depth research and analysis of complex network computing technologies. The company's Rapport Consulting and Education Services provide consulting and education in the areas of electronic messaging, directory services, groupware and other Internet/Intranet-based applications.

The company also provides a forum in which network users and vendors can come together to address network computing issues in the annual Burton Group Catalyst Conference. For more information on The Burton Group, visit www.tbg.com.

About the NAC

NAC's mission is to improve the interoperability of mission-critical applications in a heterogeneous enterprise computing environment. The Consortium's goal is to influence the strategic direction of vendors developing enterprise application and infrastructure technologies.

NAC's focus is to promote collaboration among members and to provide vendors with strategic feedback and technical requirements regarding product development and marketing strategies.