EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
As enterprise
applications evolved from a client/server to an Internet
computing architecture and rapidly grew in complexity, many
information technology departments deployed enterprise applications
using a fragmented, piecemeal middleware infrastructure.
The resulting middleware complexity represents nearly 50%
of the information technology costs in organizations today.
Further, 60% of organizations consider their enterprise
application infrastructure an impediment to their ability
to meet business requirements. Enterprises are also evolving
their applications from being monolithic, closed systems
to being modular, open systems with well-defined interfaces.
This new application architecture, called service-oriented
architecture, represents a fundamental shift in the way
new applications are being designed and developed, and the
way in which they are being integrated with existing legacy
systems and business applications. To solve the challenge
of middleware complexity, Oracle created an entirely new
class of systems software — an Application Platform
Suite (APS) — a comprehensive and integrated enterprise
application infrastructure based on service-oriented architecture
(SOA).
Oracle
recognized that organizations today need a more comprehensive
and coherent platform to develop, deploy, and manage enterprise
portals. Oracle Application Server 10g, the third generation
of Oracle’s APS, offers the industry’s leading
enterprise portal solution. Oracle Portal provides a number
of services, including (i) a browser-based design environment
– to make it easy for business users and developers
to create, manage, and evolve enterprise portals, (ii) self-service
content management and publishing – to make it easy
to create, publish, and share relevant information, (iii)
collaborative communities – to facilitate communities
of users working together, (iv) multichannel access –
to allow users to access information and services at anytime
from anywhere, and (v) built-in business intelligence –
to make it easy to create executive dashboards with up-to-date
business intelligence from across the organization. Oracle’s
enterprise portal exploits grid computing to allow services
to be deployed on large numbers of low-cost, modular servers
and storage with mission-critical performance, scalability,
and availability. It exploits an identity management infrastructure
to centralize the administration of users, groups, roles,
and authorization privileges to streamline user management,
reduce support costs, and improve security. And it provides
comprehensive monitoring and management using Oracle Enterprise
Manager.
Enterprise
portals can improve your organization’s ability to
predict and respond to market dynamics, it can enhance your
organization’s productivity, and it can radically simplify
your information technology environment, while enabling
you to exploit your existing investments. Oracle’s
enterprise portal solution is the most complete and best
integrated, the most productive and extensible, and the
most mission-critical solution in the market today. Today
more than 20,000 organizations run their businesses using
Oracle Application Server 10g, and more than 7,000 customers
globally use Oracle’s enterprise portal. Regardless
of your organization’s size, the complexity of your
IT infrastructure, or the increasing demands of your business,
Oracle Portal can provide the edge you need in today’s
competitive business environment.
Today's
enterprises are gaining competitive advantage and realizing
increased productivity by deploying an enterprise portal
within their IT infrastructure. Enterprise portals are specifically
designed to be the single source of interaction with corporate
information and the focal point for conducting day-to-day
business. Oracle Portal - a component of Oracle Application
Server - is a complete and integrated solution for building,
deploying, and maintaining a world-class enterprise portal.
INTRODUCTION
Oracle Portal combines a rich, declarative environment for
creating a portal Web interface, publishing and managing
information, accessing dynamic data, and customizing the
portal experience, with an extensible framework for J2EE-based
application access. Using Oracle Portal, e-businesses have
the power to connect employees, partners, and suppliers
with the information they need and the flexibility to create
views tailored to each community.
