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The Year of the Portal
by Peter Varhol

August 20, 2004

Enterprise portal technology came on the scene at a particularly trying time in the evolution of technology. It was at the very beginning of the downturn in 2000 that people began believing that commercial portals—at that time little more than enhanced Web browsers—could be useful in a number of different roles. One of these roles was as a simple browser, a way of providing both individual Web pages and JavaServer Pages (JSP)-style applications with a single client user interface. Another role was as a common client host environment for a variety of applications, often grouped together into packages geared toward specific categories of workers.

That initial vision was flawed, but it was the timing that was truly horrible. With enterprises' declining profits and financial hangovers brought about by over-investment in technology, portals seemed like more of the same. The first generation of portals was introduced into a market that didn't need any innovations, and couldn't afford them if it did.

Portals were seen as a way to bring together whole applications into a single user interface. There is some value in this approach, in that the look and feel of the applications remains somewhat similar, but it was something that wasn't a must-have capability for anyone. The market languished, but portal vendors didn't give up.

Today, the story for portals is much different. The technology is in, perhaps, its third generation, and perfectly positioned for the next great opportunity to deliver money-saving efficiencies to enterprises. That opportunity is loosely identified by the ambiguous term "integration." You can ask three people and get four different definitions of integration, but most will agree that better combinations of information among separate applications can open up surprising efficiencies in existing business processes. Intelligent data integrations can also enable entirely new business processes, making it possible for enterprises to enter new lines of business rapidly.

Rather than simply integrating entire applications into the same user interface, today's portals, using technology such as BEA WebLogic Portal, can manage content, bring together data from disparate applications and data sources, search for key indicators, and collaborate among both ongoing and ad hoc teams. Of course, none of these benefits come for free. Just because data can be integrated onto a single platform doesn't mean that it should be. Getting the right data to those who can best use it requires intense analysis and complex technical work.

But portals have reached the level of sophistication where they can make themselves essential to businesses seeking to maximize the value of their data and intelligence. And enterprises are ready to make real use of those capabilities. That confluence of circumstances may make 2004 the year of the portal.

About the Author
Peter is an industry expert and a regular Java Pro columnist. Contact Peter at .