Integration between Oracle’s recently announced Identity Management software and Novell’s eDirectory and OpenLDAP will allow direct exchange of security certificates. OpenLDAP is an open source implementation of the Light Weight Directory Access Protocol.

The work, planned for the next six to nine months, is designed to simplify the experience of both end-users and partners using and building for the different directories, Oracle told ComputerWire.

Oracle revealed its plan while announcing formal partner backing for Identity Management from Entrust, Netegrity and Thor.

The framework, unveiled in October, exposes Oracle APIs and uses SAML certificates, from the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS).

Part of Oracle’s 10g family, Identity Management represents a move towards a standards-based approach for secure sign-in by Oracle, and away from the company’s pre-existing in-house-built system. That approach had required partners to build extensions for products specifically for Oracle’s platform.

10g users will be able to use single sign-in, enterprise provisioning and certification software from Entrust, Netegrity and Thor using riding on a layer of XML. End-users can access features such as account provisioning across all products, Oracle said.

Microsoft’s Active Directory for Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 can also directly exchange passwords with Identity Management, side-stepping the need for synchronization of passwords.

Oracle said further partnerships are planned, but declined to provide details.

Bill Maimone, Oracle vice president of server platform technology, said integration with eDirectory and OpenLDAP would further simplify single sign-in. Currently, certificates between these directories and Oracle are managed through third parties’ software, like Thor.

However, integration would remove a level of complexity for end-users while also allowing ISVs like Thor to focus on features other than basic certificate management, Maimone said.

This article is based on material originally produced by ComputerWire.