Comparable to an electronic yellow pages where a wide variety of data can be stored, including names, e-mail and postal addresses, telephone numbers, even photos and video clips. Information on machines and the routing of e-mail can also be stored here and used by a message handling system. X.500 is also a series of internationally agreed standards detailing how to build such a directory. It is most frequently used as a corporate address book, but has the potential to become a global source of information. Technically, the CCITT directory standard for X.400 and X.435.
Return To Glossary