It is clear that companies expect to use directory services in a growing number of roles. Further, companies want to eliminate corporate and geographic boundaries as barriers to doing business over the Internet, reverse the trend towards proliferation of role-specific directories, and integrate elements in their network computing environments. Most important, companies need to make informed decisions now about selecting the directory services that will support their business needs well into the future.
Microsoft believes that a good way for companies to make directory decisions is to identify the roles that they envision for directory services within their organization and compare how well Active Directory and NDS support each role. Based on the arguments made in this white paper, Microsoft believes that Active Directory:
