A look at portals and portal vendors

Vol. 2 , No. 5 • Sep/Oct 1999

A look at portals and portal vendors — Portals: the hype has begun
by Howard McQueen

Discusses the hype beginning to surround portals and portal vendors. Defines an intranet portal as a Web-based interface using behind-the-firewall, back-end technologies to deliver heterogeneous, filtered, and personalized content to individual employees and stakeholders. Lists five key features that portals typically include. Says that not since the Web reached critical mass has a concept held as much promise as the portal. Explains that intranet portals promise to organize the information we created by automating the categorization of content. Remarks only a handful of portal vendors have begun advancing their systems' ability to keep profile information on employees as they use the portal. Says vendors will multiply and the market is ripe for mergers, acquisitions, and financial failures. Predicts this summer will stand out as when many began nudging intranets toward mission-critical information portals.