Oracle's New E-Biz Portal Aims To Eliminate Chore
Of Browser Management
[June 26, 2000] US database giant Oracle has introduced a new e-business portal software designed to collect, manage and serve up personalised software services to
Web browsers, including those embedded in Wap phones.
Oracle Portal offers e-businesses a simple framework to manage hundreds of different software services for employees, trading partners or suppliers.
It means that businesses no longer needing to produce numerous websites for different audiences, while for users the chore of having to look in a
variety of different places to get the information and applications they need is over. Oracle Portal is available immediately for download through
an early access program on Oracle Technology Network.
Commented Philip Russom, industry analyst at Hurwitz Group: "The second generation of corporate portal software is now emerging. The first focused
on workgroup-oriented, content-specific tasks like business intelligence and knowledge management.
"The second offers extranet-enabled, content-agnostic frameworks into which a wide variety of applications and information sources can be integrated.
Among second generation corporate portals, Oracle Portal is currently in the lead in terms of feature-rich and easy-to-use tools for portal
development and personalization."
Oracle Portal adds the Oracle portal management framework and services to the popular features of WebDB, Oracle's
industry-leading tool for building enterprise portals, which now become a part of the Oracle Portal offering.
WebDB's web publishing features are a key part of Oracle Portal, allowing users to publish and share information in real-time from any type of document or web content while using the portal. Oracle's portal framework
offers key services to Oracle Portal such as single sign-on, security, search capabilities and personalisation.
Using Oracle Portal, software applications can quickly and easily be turned into
"portlets," or software services, such as business intelligence reports, web pages and XML-based news feeds. Oracle Portal and portlets
leverage the latest XML and Java standards. Once created, portal content can be made available to wireless devices, such as Wap-enabled phones, Palm
Pilots and two-way pagers.
The announcement of Oracle Portal follows the introduction of WebDB and software for portlet development in autumn last year and the formation of
the Oracle Portal Partner Initiative, a program designed to create a community of ISVs, system integrators, and content providers dedicated to
building e-business portals. Autonomy, EDS, Ernst & Young, Factiva,
InfoSpace, iSyndicate, Net Perceptions, SiteScape, Verityand and WebEx have joined the initiative and are supporting Oracle Portal by offering custom
portlets, syndicated content and consulting services.
The early access preview version of Oracle Portal is available immediately for free download via Oracle Technology Network. General availability is
scheduled for later this summer.
