Enterprise web portals set to change business links

Nearly 60% of companies throughout commerce and industry will have a web portal initiative underway this year, according to IT analyst Forrester. Hard to believe, given the recent economic climate and businesses’ jaundiced views of IT hype but, separately, analyst Butler’s recent survey of IT directors showed 79% intend to or already are implementing corporate portals. Forrester expects Java and Web Services standards shortly to start paving the way not just for personalised corporate all-data access for people (employees and business partners), but for automated inter-business, inter-system operation with plug-in integration between applications, creating whole web infrastructures. It’s similar to, but the next step beyond, the current leading portals vision, typified by SAP Portals, with its provision for personalised all user information access, information integration via its business intelligence and knowledge management, and then process integration via the SAP Markets marketplaces technologies. Application infrastructure software development firm BEA Systems’ senior architect Ian Doyle says: “It’s early days yet: portals as a method for creating and integrated application environment – not just serving information to people – need standards. We’re all part of the Java Community Process to make this happen.” Just how quickly, given the history of vested interests throughout the history of standards development, is anyone’s guess. And there’s the small issue of suppliers making the changes necessary to exploit Web Services, which is yet to start really rolling. But the drivers to get to ‘intelligent portals’, with self-managing connection and unimpeded information flows, are great. Currently, integration (bespoke, via data warehousing, whatever) and ongoing maintenance represent by far the biggest financial and technical impediments to wider spread inter-company IT adoption. Doyle expects Web Services success “within one to two years”. And he justifies his optimism by reminding us that Java and Web Services have come a lot further than many seem to realise. As in fact, quietly, has Microsoft’s .Net – and the impetus, and ultimate acceptance, there is likely to be immense. “Java is much more than a standardised programming language; it’s an infrastructure that allows applications to interact with network resources, databases and so on,” says Doyle. “It’s not just for deploying applications on browsers or web servers; it’s a mechanism for deploying scalable large scale applications, with J2EE standards, across multiple platforms.” Likewise, Web Services are already being tightly defined. “Web Services are an abstraction of two competing object-orientated environments: J2EE versus Microsoft’s .Net. They’re a mechanism for linking and building mix and match solutions.” The key question – not which of the two camps will get there first, but which will build sustainable momentum: Java world portal technology or Microsoft .Net. Place your bets.