Internet Nomenclator Project

The goal of the Internet Nomenclator Project is to integrate the hundreds of publicly available CCSO name servers around the world. The CCSO name server is a popular enterprise directory server distributed by the University of Illinois Computing and Communications Services Organization.

Each CCSO server has a database schema that is tailored to the needs of the organization that owns it. Nomenclator integrates the different database schema at these servers and provides fast cross-server searches for locating people on the Internet. Nomenclator augments existing CCSO services by supplying schema integration, more extensive indexing, and two kinds of caching -- all this in a system that scales as the number of CCSO servers grows. The pilot was first announced in a presentation at the San Jose IETF Meeting of the Integrated Directory Services Working Group in December 1994. Copies of slides from the presentation are available online.

Volunteers Please

If you are a CCSO site or have an organization that needs Nomenclator, you can sign up now to participate actively in the pilot. The first participants will have direct input into the final form of service. You can volunteer by filling out a simple form. You can also email nomenclator@research.att.com for more information.

Towards a General Integrated Directory Service

The Internet Nomenclator Project creates the foundation for a much broader heterogeneous name service for the Internet. The current version of Nomenclator provides integrated access to CCSO and relational database services. Nomenclator can be enhanced to support additional name services. We are starting our pilot with CCSO services, because the CCSO services are widely available and successful.

Return to the Nomenclator Home Page.

Last modified: January 27, 1997.
joann@bell-labs.com