Portal Architect's Toolbox (Continued)
Sun Microsystems: Finding Its Identity
Sun's Architect's Toolbox
Having migrated its iPlanet portal technology into the overall Sun Open Net Environment (ONE) software architecture, Sun will make a new push to increase its share of the J2EE infrastructure market. Sun positions the Sun ONE Portal Server as the industry's first identity-enabled portal server solution, providing user, policy, and identity management to enforce security, single sign-on, and access capabilities to end-user communities. It hopes that technology leadership in identity management, as well as in multiportal capability, tools, and mobility, will appeal to customers of competitive J2EE platforms as well as its own Sun ONE platform.
Technology
The Sun ONE Portal Server, one of a group of middleware servers comprising the Sun ONE architecture, provides secure remote access to dynamically aggregated content, applications, and services, including personalization, aggregation, security, integration, mobile access, and search (see Figure 5). It leverages the capabilities of the Sun ONE Identity Server to enforce user access and policy management, and to provide Web single sign-on. In addition to running on its native platform, the Sun ONE Portal Server supports the IBM Websphere and BEA Weblogic application servers. Sun also plans to supplement its operating system support for Solaris with versions for the Linux and Windows server platforms.
Product
The Sun ONE Portal Server delivers personalized content, applications, and services to end users by dynamically aggregating information based on the end-user role. Users can customize the layout and interface to fit their needs simply and easily. Enterprises and service providers can offer new applications and services on demand without the need to restart the portal server. Portal developers can create and generate easily deployable portlets with the click of a button.
Data Sheet: Sun ONE Portal Server 6
Application
General Motors' mySocrates employee portal serves more than 190,000 U.S. hourly and salaried employees, including UAW workers. The solution uses the Sun ONE Portal Server's secure remote access technology, allowing GM employees to securely access their portal with a Web browser from any location.
Announcement: Workscape, Sun and General Motors Win DCI "Portal Excellence" Award
Analysts' View
Sun has all the pieces of an application platform suite, but its portal also runs on IBM and BEA platforms. To its credit, Sun was the first application server vendor with any market share not to try to force buyers into its complete stack.
David Gootzit, Gartner, December 2002
Sun's portal lagged behind most others while under the stewardship of iPlanet, and the vendor has had a hard time catching back up. Sales are weak relative to archcompetitors IBM and BEA, although the product does have better security features than either.
Nate Root, Forrester Research, December 2002
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