Access to heterogeneous directory services

A description is given of the directory access service (DAS), which automates the process of searching multiple directories. DAS is directory service user interface that integrates the various directories into a single, uniform directory service. In response to a user query, DAS forwards queries to multiple directories. The responses are collected and formatted by DAS into a standard format for presentation to the user. The design of DAS is flexible and extensible, allowing convenient integration of new directories into DAS as they become available