They also offer tools to enable IT managers to build access to other data sources. Another area where portals are proving popular is the enterprise application sector. Companies such as Oracle, PeopleSoft and SAP have all introduced portals claiming they provide a more efficient means for employees to access a broad range of applications by presenting them in a manner that reflects each individual's role and responsibilities within their organisation. These companies view their applications as the 'backbone' of their customers' businesses, and their portals as a logical extension of these products. Specialist portal companies naturally disagree.
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Such a complex mix of technologies is difficult to accumulate in an in-house IT department. Yet a number of portal companies report that their fiercest competition, as yet, comes from internal development projects. Despite the complexity of the software, and the fact that the portal market is over crowded and ill-defined, there are still plenty of new entrants to the market. Systems management and application development tools vendor Compuware, for example, is hoping to leverage its strength in application development software with the launch of its OptimalView Portal product, a framework with an emphasis on integrating applications through the portal, in March 2000. The company has partnered with both Viador and Plumtree in order to deliver this capability to portal customers.