In 2012, Microsoft Active Directory, Exchange and Office will give way to more real-time, social communication cloud applications, which run on mobile devices and browsers.

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The question that remains is whether or not this proposed NDS integration will be as complete as Cisco's ongoing work to incorporate Microsoft's Windows 2000 Server-based Active Directory into its hardware management software.

CNN: Cisco to sign up for NDS

Just ask Microsoft, which has spent three years trying to embed Active Directory into the next version of Windows NT.

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Microsoft and Cisco have been working for 20 months now on a project entitled Cisco Networking Services for Active Directory.

CNN: Cisco to sign up for NDS