NADF press release

[Marshall Rose <[e-mail]>]

The NADF met last week.  Forgive the somewhat commercial tone of this
message, but this is probably the best way to summarize what went on.

Thanks,

/mtr
(a consultant to the NADF)
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                                    Contact:  Ted Myer
                                        NADF Co-chair
                                        [phone]

                 NADF OPENS DOOR TO USER ACCESS

     TAMPA, FL, August 10, 1993 . . . Following on the recent
success of its demonstration of X.500 directory services at the
Electronic Mail Association (EMA) annual conference, the North
American Directory Forum (NADF) has opened its pilot to public
access by the user community as announced at its quarterly
meeting here.
     "The addition of public access will benefit users of
directory services," said Ted Myer, principal of Rapport
Communication and co-chair of NADF.  "By extending the directory
across public and private organizational boundaries, the pilot
will enhance electronic mail and other forms of communication."
     In June AT&T, Advantis, GE Information Services and MCI,
four members of the NADF, demonstrated X.500 directory
interworking in a multi-provider environment at the EMA
conference in Atlanta. The demonstration also included remote
domains operated by BT North America, Bellcore, Canada Post
Corporation, Digital Equipment Corporation and the U.S. Postal
Service.  Interoperability was extended with connectivity to
Paradise, a worldwide research-based X.500 directory
pilot.  According to Marshall Rose, principal, Dover Beach
Consulting and technical adviser to the NADF, "The continued
coordination of these and other future pilots promotes a single
global directory for users."
     The EMA demonstration showcased the key technology developed
by NADF nicknamed CAN.  The CAN, or Central Administration for
NADF, manages and enables the distribution of knowledge and
naming information. In effect this creates a single logical
directory for North America that is physically distributed.
Canada Post Corporation and the U.S. Postal Service jointly
operate the CAN for the NADF.  The CAN technology is available
for use by both public service providers and user companies in
the pilot.
     The NADF continues to invite user companies to join its
membership. The benefits of membership include participation in
the pilot, NADF meetings, exchange of ideas with industry
experts, practical experience in implementing X.500 in a
multi-provider environment and influence on the future direction
of public directory services in North America.  NADF milestones
are tracked and compiled in a publicly available series of
documents referred to as Standing Documents.  To obtain copies of
the documents or membership information contact Myer at
[phone].
     The NADF was founded in 1990 to bring together major service
providers in the U.S. and Canada to establish a public directory
service based on the X.500 series of recommendations for a global
directory service.  In May 1993 the forum's membership was
expanded to include user organizations.
     As of August, the membership of the NADF includes AT&T,
Advantis, Bell Canada, BT North America, Canada Post Corporation,
DirectoryNet, Inc., GE Information Services, MCI, Pacific Bell
represented by Bellcore, Performance Systems International,
Southwestern Bell, Sprint International, U.S. Postal Service, and
new user members AlliedSignal and Digital Equipment Corporation.
     Advantis, host for the August NADF meeting, is a networking
technology company that provides a spectrum of offerings to meet
customers networking needs including electronic mail and
electronic data interchange.  A partnership formed by IBM and
Sears, Roebuck and Co., Advantis provides a wide range of
value-added network services and custom network solutions to more
than 10,000 customers supporting more than one million users.
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