Oracle Unveils Portal Strategy

Oracle today unveiled its strategy for simplifying the development of Web portals for E-business applications.

The strategy is embodied in the Oracle Portal Framework, a technical foundation that aims to give users access to all enterprise data sources and applications through a centralized, Internet portal. Key to the framework are "portlets," reusable components that Oracle is designing to house frequently accessed information such as budget updates, employee data, or directories. The portlets are then collected into a centralized library, so developers can easily search and select the appropriate data to build a customized portal. The system is being designed to help centralize all the information developers need for Internet and intranet sites, making the Web-development process more manageable.

Oracle will also offer a series of standard packaged portals built on this framework to provide a centralized view of enterprise and customer-relationship management applications within the framework. All the portlet offerings will be Java-based, allowing compatibility with applications from outside vendors and making it easier for companies using multiple enterprise resource planning vendors' applications to build a centralized portal.

The portlet software development kit is expected to be available later this year, and the prepacked portals will be included in the release of Oracle 11I applications, which are expected to ship sometime next year.