Microsoft will begin selling its directory technology as a standalone product separate from the Windows operating system. Microsoft will continue to build in its "Active Directory" as part of Windows, but will give its customers the new option of buying the technology as a separate product next year, Microsoft executives said this week. The directory technology essentially provides a network manager with a central database to store and manage information about users, computer systems and networking devices. Microsoft competes against Novell and Sun Microsystems in the directory-server software market.
|