ISOCOR Introduces LDAPv3 Enhancement to Its Global Directory Server, a Meta-Directory Product.

INTERNET WORLD--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 10, 1997--

Strategic LDAPv3 Addition to ISOCOR's Global Directory Server

Adds Scalability, Increases Industrywide Compatibility and

Enhances Performance for Enterprisewide Directories

ISOCOR (Nasdaq:ICOR), an award-winning vendor of Internet messaging and meta-directory solutions, Wednesday announced the introduction of native LDAPv3 support for its popular Global Directory Server meta-directory product.

LDAP transparently connects legacy e-mail directories, network operating system directories and databases so that organizations can adapt their various directories to the new Internet standards without losing investments in legacy architectures.

ISOCOR's Global Directory Server (GDS) Enhanced With LDAPv3 Global Directory Server's native support of LDAPv3, which is based on highly efficient threading architecture, makes GDS faster and more scalable. LDAPv3 is also more tightly integrated and requires a smaller memory footprint than GDS' current LDAPv2 front-end.

Large and mid-sized organizations migrating to the LDAPv3 enhancement should expect to see significant results immediately, as Version 3 is key to scaling directories to ensure the effectiveness and speed of messaging, EDI and business applications.

Echoes Rapport Communications' principal, Dan Blum, said: "LDAPv3 is an excellent access mechanism into various directories because it is both fast and efficient. It is also an important new standard that will become increasingly prevalent in the marketplace. Integrated with ISOCOR's Global Directory Server offering, it provides a timely and effective solution well worth considering."

ISOCOR's Global Directory Server v2.1 is designed to store, manage and update mission-critical directory information. It serves the expanding needs of telecommunications providers, companies and government agencies who want to manage their mission-critical intranet/extranet applications from a distributed information repository by providing a single secure view of distributed data from multiple directory sources.

The addition of LDAPv3 to ISOCOR's Global Directory Server further enhances its overall performance, its compatibility with industry standards and its scalability, thereby better serving customers' directory needs to store and distribute more information.

Alan Kravitz, manager of e-mail and directory services for Texas Instruments of Dallas, agrees. "At Texas Instruments, we chose ISOCOR's Global Directory Server to distribute our directory infrastructure across our worldwide operations. ISOCOR's GDS product has been the glue to bridging the gap between people and information within TI," he said. Today, Texas Instruments is one of ISOCOR's largest customers.

ISOCOR's new LDAPv3 support is written using an innovative architecture created by the company and known as the Asynchronous Runtime Kernel (ARK). This is a next-generation model and run-time system for building scalable, high-performance network servers.

LDAPv3 Features and Benefits

With LDAPv3, ISOCOR's GDS product will be compatible with most of the popular client applications that use LDAP features including Outlook Express, Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. To further ensure compatibility with complementary industry products, ISOCOR has also closely aligned its independent LDAPv3 implementation with the Basic LDAP Interoperability Test Suite (BLITS) profiles defined by the Internet Mail Consortium.

Additional customer benefits accruing from the new v3 support include:

-- Support for the LDAP change log Internet draft.

-- Support for sorted and paged search result extensions.

-- Support for attribute descriptors.

-- An architecture that is optimized for symmetric multiprocessing

systems which support pre-emptive threading within one process

space.

-- An LDAP model that is scalable from uni-processor hardware

supporting only a single thread of control, to symmetric

multiprocessor hardware supporting multiple processors with

multiple threads. Provisions have also been made by ISOCOR

for further upward scalability to clusters of similar hardware

connected by system area networks.

Industry-Standards Development

As a leading proponent of open systems standards, ISOCOR recently participated in the Internet Mail Consortium's DirConnect2 workshop. This event provided an engineering environment for vendors to test LDAP interoperability among their products while giving and receiving input on the emerging v3 standard. Held in San Jose, Calif., in November 1997, this successful forum drew vendor participants from around the world.

ISOCOR's active participation in and contributions to the Internet Mail Consortium is further assurance that its products are designed and tested for compatibility with industry and market standards.

Product Availability

ISOCOR's GDS v2.1 product for the Windows NT and Sun Solaris platforms is available and shipping now. The LDAPv3 enhancement will be available in Q1 1998. For more information on how to purchase Global Directory Server v2.1, contact your local ISOCOR representative.

Review of ISOCOR's Global Directory Server v2.1

GDS v2.1 combines LDAP with a 1993 X.500 Directory System Agent for storing, accessing, managing and updating important directory information. Its multi-protocol directory capability can be used by messaging, EDI and other business applications for address books, telephone directories, personnel information, security certificates, and e-mail systems routing and configuration information.

For an organization wishing to integrate existing user and network information into a planned enterprise directory or to synchronize various directories and address books, GDS v2.1 is designed to streamline the process of enterprise management. Its key benefits include:

-- Global organizations can more easily manage their worldwide

directory infrastructure with a single logical view of

directory information that can be securely transmitted across

multiple physical systems, spanning multiple domains,

geographically distributed across multiple locations.

-- An easy-to-control user profile can be developed in a single

directory service from multiple data sources, reducing

duplication and security gaps.

-- Connection to public or private directories is simplified

through software agents based upon open standards.

-- Consolidation and migration of multiple third-party messaging

and directory products can be maintained and automatically

synchronized in a consistent way, reducing management overhead.

-- Sensitive information can be secured through systemwide,

multilevel user access controls.

-- Administration costs can be reduced through a centralized

management tool that supports remote access across multiple

physical sites and domains.

GDS v2.1 also includes an optional ODBC database connector for accessing relational databases.

About ISOCOR

ISOCOR develops, markets and supports high-performance software products for messaging and directory infrastructures. These infrastructures support business applications which connect dissimilar systems and enable the exchange of mission-critical business information over corporate intranets, the Internet and public and private networks.

ISOCOR's mission is to be the leading provider of backbone software, supplying high-quality, high-performance software capable of handling an organization's messaging and directory requirements, from the simplest to the most complex. This mission is supported by ISOCOR's ongoing commitment to research and development, coupled with rigorous quality assurance and support.

With headquarters in California, ISOCOR is a global organization with major development centers in Santa Monica, Calif.; Dublin, Ireland; and Berlin. ISOCOR has sales/support offices in key international business centers, including Washington, D.C.; London; Paris; Berlin; Bern, Germany; and Milan, Italy. -0- NOTE: ISOCOR is a registered trademark of ISOCOR. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

CONTACT: ISOCOR Inc., Santa Monica

Bill Wolfe, 310/581-8100

[e-mail]

or

Miller/Shandwick Public Relations 

Stephanie Graves, 310/203-0550

[e-mail]