The portal software market is being served by a wide range of vendors, ranging from Sun, Oracle, IBM, and Sybase to a host of small privately held players. It is an emerging market, and we are in the first phase. The market is beginning to consolidate around a small group of vendors. Last quarter we added 18 new customers, which is a high number compared to our past growth. We are also having customers return for more software after successfully completing initial implementations.
Customers are prepared to move forward and portals are truly at the center of their focus.
XPS is a whole product that actually reflects what customers are looking for complete solutions. We ve spent a lot of time understanding from some of our key customers what they really need as opposed to offering a rigid, pre-configured solution and telling customers this will suit you fine. The second component is that customers want to weave portals into the fabric of their e-business strategy. In addition, customers are looking for portals built on the right technology, and it s not surprising that many tell us they require a portal based on an XML foundation. XML is rapidly becoming the defacto standard for e-business.