Hewlett-Packard launches X500 as others look for interim package

That Retix Inc’s recently-announced directory exchange system garnered so much support (CI No 1,797) suggests that all is not well with the development of the X500 – the OSI standard designed to provide an open, distributed network directory service. Certainly there is a view abroad in the industry that its slow speed of implementation means that some kind of quick and dirty interim method of swapping directory information is needed. However there are conflicting views as to just how useful the 1988 version of X500 is. Some people, such as Elaine Mackintosh in UK consultancy Ovum Ltd’s latest report on the technology, say we will have to wait until the 1992 standard before it becomes generally suitable for public electronic mail systems. Others such as Mikael Johanson, Hewlett-Packard Co’s OSI marketing programme manager, describe the 1988 version as definitely adequate: as if to prove the point, Hewlett-Packard has just gone ahead and announced an X500 package for release in January, as part of a big electronic mail push. Recently, the company announced that it had entered into an agreement with Touch Communications Corp in order to produce an X400 package with gateways to Microsoft Corp’s Mail and Lotus Development Corp’s cc:Mail. The system will be integrated with Hewlett’s HP OpenMail – the mail component of its NewWave Office package and will run under Unix. Johansen says an implementation of the 1988 X500, which was developed in-house at Hewlett-Packard, will also be integrated into OpenMail to give users the ability to access the X500 enterprise-wide directory easily and instantly. This is not the first time that Hewlett-Packard has offered X500; it is, however, the first time that it has offered it in a distributed form – hitherto the directory information has been held in a central database. It is the production of distributed systems that is causing software engineers problems, rather than any particular shortcomings in the standard that has caused the slow deployment of X500 according to Johansen, who says that the development takes a bit of engineering and some imagination. Touch’s Worldtalk is due in January on the HP 9000 Series 800 system for $8,000 to $24,000, when the HP X500 Distributed Directory on the HP 9000 Series 800 is also due, costing $5,000 to $40,000.

British Telecom links its X400 domains

Is British Telecommunications Plc going to let IBM Corp steal the limelight by upgrading its X400 service? It is not. The British phone company turned international service provider said last week that it is going to consolidate its US, UK and new French service into a single Administrative Management Domain, with the previously separate systems linked by a new X400 backbone due January. With the implementation of an international backbone, it is time to say farewell to the Dialcom400 (US) and Gold400 (UK) service names, which will be phased out, with one of the results being a simplified addressing scheme.

IBM X400 upgrade and new gateways

Meanwhile, IBM has enhanced IBM Mail Exchange on the Information Network with additional services based on X400. IBM says it has improved security, the range of deliverable file types and added access to X400 directories at the user level. It has also added gateways to Telecom Finland’s Mailnet and Norway PTT’s Telemax.400. Whereas previously the system has been restricted to documents, binary files can now be exchanged through the Single Body Part 14 standard. Claiming that improved security is always slightly problematic, it implies there was a problem before – nonetheless, IBM has gone in, head held high, and said that it has added a partner table control enhancement for systems using IBM Mail Exchange/VM. As for the directory enhancement, users now can store short aliases for frequently-used addresses – an addition that will be welcomed by anyone that has had the experience of haing to type in loads of notoriously long X400 addresses.

Mercury says X400 to come, meanwhile…

Mercury Comm

unications Ltd has launched a new messaging service based around X400, news that comes hard on the heels of another messaging launch by Mercury, seemingly designed to tackle British Telecommunications Plc’s Telecom Gold service head on. Called MultiMessage, the service enables messages to be sent from most proprietary electronic mail services, or from a telex terminal, to any facsimile, telex, or electronic mail address. It also features a number of value-added features (which is where Mercury claims its service differs from BT’s), including group addressing, alternative addressing, delayed transmission, and an operator ‘Intercept’ service. This enables users to specify certain service requirements – that, for example, they should be contacted if messages are not collected; Mercury has a 24-hour operator service.

IBM on the art of friendly persuasion

The trouble with electronic mail, as with electronic data interchange and, indeed, the telephone is that there is no point being the first person to get it… but how do you convince your trading partners that they should take the plunge first? Well how about arranging a visit from a friendly IBM representative? IBM in the US has a scheme that will no doubt be useful, but which from the description sounded nightmarish. EmailConnect for Trading Partners is described as a service that promotes quick connection and start-up for a customer’s suppliers and vendors. Companies apparently have the choice of two programmes: EmailConnect Managed and EmailConnect Direct. With the former, all you need do is supply IBM with a list of your trading partners and sit back while it contacts them and attempts to encourage electronic mail connection. With EmailConnect Direct, however, the user contacts vendors and suppliers, advises them of its interest in establishing electronic communication and the punchline notifies them that IBM will be contacting them. In a phrase that conjures up delightful mental pictures, the computer maker says that an IBM enabling team takes over project management, enabling the company to concentrate on its core business. – Chris Rose