I was able to decipher the error after looking at some other web pages.

I found I have to compile using the openldap libraries instead of the default Solaris ldap libraries.

I compiled using the following:

LDFLAGS='-L/usr/local/openldap/lib -R/usr/local/openldap/lib'
./configure --prefix=/tmp/tocevod --with-ssl=openssl --with-solr --with-zlib --with-bzlib --with-ldap=yes

ldd on the ....libexec/dovecot/auth files shows the proper openldap libraries.

    libdovecot.so.0 =>       /usr/local/tools/dovecot/lib/dovecot/libdovecot.so.0
    libpam.so.1 =>   /usr/lib/libpam.so.1
    libldap-2.4.so.2 =>      /usr/local/openldap/lib/libldap-2.4.so.2
    libsasl.so.1 =>  /usr/lib/libsasl.so.1
    libssl.so.0.9.7 =>       /usr/sfw/lib/libssl.so.0.9.7
    libcrypto.so.0.9.7 =>    /usr/sfw/lib/libcrypto.so.0.9.7
    liblber-2.4.so.2 =>      /usr/local/openldap/lib/liblber-2.4.so.2
    libresolv.so.2 =>        /usr/lib/libresolv.so.2
    libgen.so.1 =>   /usr/lib/libgen.so.1
    librt.so.1 =>    /usr/lib/librt.so.1
    libnsl.so.1 =>   /usr/lib/libnsl.so.1
    libsocket.so.1 =>        /usr/lib/libsocket.so.1
    libsendfile.so.1 =>      /usr/lib/libsendfile.so.1
    libc.so.1 =>     /usr/lib/libc.so.1
    libgcc_s.so.1 =>         /usr/sfw/lib/libgcc_s.so.1
    libcmd.so.1 =>   /usr/lib/libcmd.so.1
    libmd.so.1 =>    /usr/lib/libmd.so.1
    libaio.so.1 =>   /usr/lib/libaio.so.1
    libmp.so.2 =>    /usr/lib/libmp.so.2
    libscf.so.1 =>   /usr/lib/libscf.so.1
    libdoor.so.1 =>  /usr/lib/libdoor.so.1
    libuutil.so.1 =>         /usr/lib/libuutil.so.1
    libssl_extra.so.0.9.7 =>         /usr/sfw/lib/libssl_extra.so.0.9.7
    libcrypto_extra.so.0.9.7 =>      /usr/sfw/lib/libcrypto_extra.so.0.9.7
    libm.so.2 =>     /usr/lib/libm.so.2

I am not able to authenticate to my ldap server.

Thank you all.