Portal Architect's Toolbox (Continued)

Vendor Strategies for Enterprise Portal Development

To give enterprise architects and developers a jumpstart in evaluating portal technologies and vendor solutions, we'll investigate the tools and strategies of twelve portal technology providers. Each vendor's technology is described and critically assessed, while a toolbox of in-depth technical information provides ample opportunity for further exploration.

12 Vendor Strategies

• ATG: Sales and Customer Portals
• BEA Systems: Interface for Custom Apps
• Bowstreet: Value-Added Development
• IBM: Powerful Technology Portfolio
• Microsoft: From Department to Enterprise
• Novell: Interaction Plus Identity
• Oracle: Declarative Portal Publishing
• Plumtree: Portable Pure Play
• SAP: Expanding the Enterprise App
• Sun Microsystems: Finding Its Identity
• Sybase: Rapid Development, Slow Market
• Vignette: Beyond Content Management

In selecting vendors to profile in this article, we did not attempt to cover the entire portal technology space. The focus is very much on the infrastructure players, especially the leaders from the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) camp—BEA, IBM, Oracle, and Sun Microsystems—where most enterprise development takes place today. We also looked closely at Microsoft to better understand its present and future enterprise portal offerings.

In addition, we covered a supplementary list of vendors who approach the portal market from other directions yet vie for a lasting role in enterprise portal development. These seven companies—ATG, Bowstreet, Novell, Plumtree, SAP, Sybase, and Vignette—are not comparable with the first set in the depth of their infrastructure, but each provides advantages or special qualities that give it a central role in many customer enterprise portal strategies.

Introduction

BEA Systems