Linux Journal: LDAP Series Part III–The Historical Secrets

“The origins of LDAP begin with the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) based in Geneva. ITU began setting
email standards which required a directory of names (and other
information) that could be accessed across networks in a
hierarchical fashion not dissimilar to DNS. The result of their
work resulted in the X.500 series of standards which defined DAP
(Directory Access Protocol), the protocol for accessing a networked
directory service.

“Tim Howes, Steve Kille and Wengyik Yeong saw a better way to
achieve the aims of ITU and published a proposal entitled X.500
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol in RFC 1487 during July
1993…”

Complete
Story