SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 15, 2002-- Critical Path, Inc. (Nasdaq:CPTH - News), a global leader in Internet communications, today underscored the fundamental importance of meta-directory technology in enabling identity management. During a roundtable discussion at the Burton Group's Catalyst Conference 2002, Critical Path Chief Technology Officer Michael Serbinis contributed to a lively discussion on the potential convergence of provisioning and meta-directory technologies. According to Serbinis, "Convergence will not happen overnight, and those who are in the process of selecting new applications are finding that meta-directory technology is enabling smooth transitions to Web services-based solutions. With identity management becoming increasingly important to realizing the promise of Web services, smart enterprises are paying more attention than ever before to their selection of meta-directory technologies." Serbinis opened his comments by clarifying that the meta-directory is the fundamental infrastructure on which applications such as provisioning are built. He emphasized that the meta-directory will continue to be a critical component of identity management solutions, based on its unique ability to integrate and consolidate data from disparate systems. While convergence isn't a reality today, strategic combinations of identity management products are a reality for many companies. Critical Path offers these combined solutions through its relationships with partners such as Netegrity
(Nasdaq: NETE) for single sign-on capabilities and Entrust (Nasdaq: ENTU) for public key infrastructure (PKI) support. As the conversation shifted to the advancement of Web services, Serbinis reminded the audience that Web services require user authentication and data integration across multiple applications, data sources and computing environments. This makes identity management, and specifically meta-directories, integral to enterprise adoption of Web services. Critical Path's meta-directory offering currently supports XML and DMSL standards - and will soon support SOAP - integrating directly with the Web services stack. Serbinis closed his commentary with a dose of common sense: "Real-world requirements vary widely, which is why enterprises need to develop identity management solutions that match their business requirements. For this reason, convergence for many may be a long way off."
About Critical Path, Inc.
Critical Path, Inc. (Nasdaq: CPTH) delivers software and services that maximize the value of Internet communications. The company provides messaging and collaboration solutions -- from wireless, secure and unified messaging to basic email and personal information management --
as well as identity management solutions that simplify user profile management and strengthen information security. The standards-based Critical Path Communications Platform, built to perform reliably at the scale of public networks, delivers the industry's lowest total cost of ownership for messaging solutions and lays a solid foundation for next-generation communications services. Critical Path's customers include more than 700 enterprises, 190 carriers and service providers, eight national postal authorities and 35 government agencies. Critical Path is headquartered in San Francisco with offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. More information on Critical Path can be found at www.cp.net. # # # Shane Dolgin PR Director Critical Path, Inc. 350 The Embarcadero San Francisco, CA 94105 415.541.2661 (Direct) 415.307.5537 (Mobile) shane.dolgin@cp.net www.cp.net
Ernst van der Ploeg
Regional Sales Director
for Critical Path Netherlands
+31 (0) 6 512 77060 phone
+31 (0) 6 105 48013 fax
A Global leader in Internet communications