Report: Invigorated Growth in Portals Fueled by Web 2.0 Technologies; IBM Ranked #1

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announces it is leading the fast-growing Enterprise Portal market in license and maintenance revenue for the fifth consecutive year as dynamic Web 2.0 functionality takes root in portals, according to an annual report by IDC.

Building on the next generation of the Internet, known as Web 2.0, IBM is integrating its WebSphere Portal software with advanced Web 2.0 expertise to create a more dynamic, personalized version of a portal. This allows users to access the right information at the right time, whether it’s on the Web, on their desktop or in a colleague’s mind. IBM’s commitment to Web 2.0 and SOA-based architecture will continue to make its collaboration software more flexible, and ultimately, more useful.
IDC projects that the Enterprise Portal Software market will expand over 50 percent to $1.4 billion by 2011. The Enterprise Portal Software market grew nearly 11 percent in 2006 with license and maintenance revenue of $901 million. IDC anticipates solid market growth ahead fueled by mashing up portals with new Web 2.0 collaboration and development technologies, the report states (1). “Web 2.0 collaboration features are finding a welcome home within the portal as business users want to take advantage of these new egalitarian methods that offer easy ways for end users to customize content, while IT can take comfort in the portal’s ability to deliver them within a secure deployment environment.”

Indicative of the increasing role of portal technology, organizations worldwide are turning to IBM’s portal products. Among them are: Duke University Medical, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide and Opal Future Technologies, Inc.

“WebSphere Portal and Portlet Factory are helping us compete by reducing the cost of delivering value-added services both to clients and a dispersed workforce. Personalized portal views and dashboards have improved collaboration with clients, increased our productivity and contributed to an outstanding satisfaction rate. An accounts payable application developed for our portal alone has saved UNICCO nearly $140,000 in 2006 by eliminating paper invoice searches,” said William Jenkins, senior director of information technology for UNICCO Service Company.

“IBM’s portal products have consistently been the leading choice for enterprises and organizations of any size,” said Larry Bowden, vice president of portals and web interaction services. “Because of IBM’s open standards, SOA-based approach to portal architecture and rapid introduction of new technology advances such as Web 2.0 and mashup functions, customers have responded by choosing IBM for the fifth consecutive year, more than any other approach to create compelling user experiences for their customers, partners and employees.”

For information on IBM’s portal business solutions and IBM Portlet for Google Gadgets visit: http://ibm.com/websphere/solutionscatalog-portal