Hitachi Ltd has licensed the source code for Netscape Communications Corp’s Directory Server 3.0 server and is adapting it for the Japanese language as well developing extensions to integrate it with its intranet and extranet software, including its own Groupmax software, relational database engine, security software based on digital certificates and Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) software. Netscape says Hitachi chose its server because it is the only one available conforming to the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) version 3. The standard supports the storing of international character sets so it is ideal for adapting to Japanese and Hitachi plans to have the resulting software ready for its home market by the second quarter of 1998. The two companies plan to submit the LDAP v3 and Japanese extensions to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for standardization as part of the LDAP protocol. Netscape also says that it is better than Novell Inc’s NetWare Directory Services (NDS) as NDS has to use an LDAP gateway which slows it down.
