		Mastering Intranet and Internet Technology

Portals

Portals have become very popular.

There are web portals, intranet portals, corporate portals, application portals, information portals, database portals, etc..

However, every portal vendor and manufacturer has their own definition. Some variations are discussed below.

In some cases, organisations might already have a portal, but not know it. A portal is a function, not a product.

Definitions

OED:
Novell:
Microsoft:
Brio:
Yahoo:
Alta Vista:
IBM:
Oracle:
Seybold:
"Business portals promise to provide business users with one-stop shopping for any type of information object they need. They also promise to ease information overload by providing users with just the information they need when they need it and in the format they want. Business portals are the business complement to the wildly successful consumer portals provided by Yahoo! and others. Vendors of various types of business information software are now repositioning their products as business portals. "

Uses/Functions

A portal typically provides a common means of access to disparate data and information.

The usual means of access is via a common client - usually a web browser. Setting up the portal to render its output in HTML/DHTML/XML format means that the portal provider does not have to provide a client. The user is expected to have a suitable client already.