Microsoft Acquires Zoomit to Add to AD -- Redmondmag.com

Microsoft Acquires Zoomit to Add to AD

By Scott Bekker
07/07/1999

Taking some final strides to the finish line with Windows 2000, Microsoft Corp. has turned its attention to the Active Directory component. Today, the company announced the acquisition of Zoomit Corp. (www.zoomit.com), a meta-directory solution provider.

Microsoft will integrate Zoomit's technologies into Active Directory, enabling users to manage identity data, such as account information, passwords, configurations and access rights, stored in heterogeneous directory services throughout the enterprise. Microsoft says it will add support for popular applications and network services that store identity information in places other than directories.

"While directory services are the ideal long-term repository for identity management, customers are telling us that their identity data currently is fragmented throughout the enterprise," said Jim Allchin, Microsoft senior vice president of the personal and business systems group, in a company release today. "By integrating and extending Zoomit's technologies with Active Directory, we will simplify enterprise identity management in a way that blends well with existing business processes."

Zoomit's technologies are specifically designed to access identity data in other crevices of the enterprise, including e-mail address books and application databases.

Jamie Lewis, president of The Burton Group (www.burtongroup.com), says this technology is ideal in the hire/fire scenario where once an administrator had to change computer accounts, access rights, e-mail accounts and applications configurations every time an employee was hired or fired. Lewis says Zoomit's technology, integrated into Active Directory, will allow single updates that effect changes in various directories.

Last month, Microsoft made several announcements effecting the Active Directory part of Windows 2000. First it announced version 2.5 of the Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI), which enables developers to prepare applications for the release of Active Directory. Then the company partnered with Mission Critical Software Inc. (MCS, www.missioncritical.com) to add the features of MCS's Domain Migrator to Active Directory in order to make the migration a smoother one. -- Brian Ploskina

About the Author

Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.

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