Claremont, California-based Innosoft International Inc used last month’s EMail World show to unveil the first Unix version of its PMDF e-Mail Interconnect electronic mail integration software. The company has now implemented the final piece of the PMDF family, the PMDF-X500 directory component for Digital Unix, representing the first conversion from Digital Equipment Corp’s OpenVMS, which has been shipping since September 1994. Both versions of PMDF-X500 implement the 1988 X.500 OSI directory standard, promising an extensible, scalable central data store for directory information. The move is the first of more Unix- related announcements due to be made this year and Innosoft is currently working on a Solaris version of the product which is in field test and should be ready in 60 to 90 days. Other systems, presumably including Hewlett-Packard Co’s HP-UX Unix, will also follow, although the company is not revealing any specifics. PMDF-X500 for Digital Unix is available now at a cost of $6,500 per server. PMDF-X500 supports access to the directory service with TCP/IP clients using LDAP Lightweight Directory Access Protocol and Connectionless LDAP. It has also been enhanced to support access from World Wide Web clients, so users can browse directory services and send mail from any Web browser. PMDF-X500 can be used as a stand-alone directory service, or integrated with the rest of the PMDF e-Mail Interconnect product set. When it is coupled with PMDF-Message Transfer Agent, PMDF-X500 facilitates delivery of electronic mail messages based on fuzzy logic matches against the information stored in the X.500 directory – a feature designed to relieve users from having to know exact addresses for delivery of mail messages. The Directory User Agent included with PMDF-X500 is also touted by Innosoft as being able to make it easier for users to access X.500 directory services.
