The Enterprise Portals Report was released by CMS Watch, an independent analyst firm that evaluates content technologies for prospective solutions buyers.
Based on interviews with more than 60 enterprise portal customers and integrators worldwide, the report examines enterprise portal software from the perspective of six canonical use cases: Web Publishing, Self-service, Collaboration, Enterprise Intranet, E-business and Enterprise Integration.
Specific report findings include:
Portal technology vendors target divergent use-cases, and no single platform excels across the broad spectrum of portal applications. For example, while Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server has seen tremendous growth on the strength of its Collaboration facilities, it is a comparatively poor platform for Enterprise Integration. Conversely, BEA WebLogic Portal offers strong E-business capabilities, but may not be well suited for Collaboration and Enterprise Intranet use-cases.
Despite supplier consolidation, portal software remains a comparatively immature technology, with vendors and customers alike struggling to address chronic performance problems, usability shortcomings, and low adoption rates.
Several prominent portal products - including Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server, BEA WebLogic Portal, and IBM WebSphere Portal - will see major upgrades this year, with attendant potential costs, dislocation and opportunities for their customers.
Multiple open source portal projects offer serious alternatives to commercial products, but their platforms tend to focus on Web Publishing and Collaboration over more transactional use cases.
The Enterprise Portals Report is designed to help enterprises save time and make informed portal technology buying decisions. Like all CMS Watch offerings, the Enterprise Portals Report does not rank "best" vendors, but instead details the strengths and weaknesses of the various suppliers, identifies their suitability for different use-cases, and isolates vendor tendencies that may influence long-term product roadmaps.This piece is brought to you by the Information Management editorial staff.
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