Sun's Collaborative Portal Server 7

Another big hit by Sun Microsystems Inc today by announcing major enhancements to the Java Enterprise System with a new version of the Sun Java System Portal Server(version 7) that will provide developers and customers with collaborative features and identity-based content through web-based applications.

As Collaborative Portals are speedily replacing the traditional portal features and architecture, Sun was a bit late but came with enhanced and the most needed capabilities of its Portal Server which will allow the easy creation of interactive communities of users and services, building community portals populated with collaborative content including RSS feeds, blogs and wikis.

The story of Collaborative technology is not new anymore ,Interwoven’s WorkSite (Document Collaboration), IBM lotus Quickplace, EMC Documentum e-room were the first one to include the Collaborative technology in their products.

Liferay Portal server 3.6 too have and support for the collaborative content including RSS feeds, blogs and wikis, but follows the Gropus and Role Concept that works more or less the same as Community Concept

Identity-based portals and community portals, when combined with Sun's leading support of AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript) portal containers, allow users to experience the interactive power of the Web along with the personalization and rich application interfaces traditionally associated with the desktop.

Some of the enhancements made to the Sun Java System Portal Server 7 include:
**Delegated Administration Features -> enables end users with the ability to manage page layouts, reset passwords, and allow non-technical users the ability to manage common portal functions, thus freeing up IT resources .
** Tools to Create New Communities and Community Services -- including user communities, wikis, file sharing, blog integration, and an open interface to build and expand on these services.
** Sun is also incorporating the open Java DB, a Sun supported distribution of the Apache Derby database, in the Sun Java System Portal Server 7 for use in data storage.

More information can be found at: http://www.sun.com/software/javaenterprisesystem

Jetspeed 2.0 Open Source Enterprise Portal

With the release of the Jetspeed 2.0 Open Source Enterprise Portal , I believe that Open Source Portals are in the way of changing their Portal Architecture not just by enhancing their Security components but also a combination of both LDAP and the Database as a Backend.

Now what kind of data Jetspeed 2.0 has put on LDAP and what all info is there in underlying database can only be gathered by rigorous evaluation of the product.
anyways….this release is fully-compliant with the Portlet Specification 1.0 (JSR-168). Jetspeed-2 has passed the TCK (Test Compatibility Kit) suite and is fully certified to the Java Portlet Standard.
Apache Portals Bridges project can be used to 'bridge' portals with existing technologies including Struts, JSF, PHP, Perl. For GUI designers, Jetspeed comes with several built-in templates used to decorate portals and portlets.

Open Sun ( a new era)

Finally… after a long wait and the market evaluations on changing trends and expectations from the developer community for open source versions , the Boss ie, Sun Microsystems Inc. has come up with its open-source offerings for core software products .

This is a very strategic move that could have long-term implications on the company's image and make people accept and enhance Java and its products.
This was a well-thought out concept and the open source Solaris OS was a precursor to the present move of permitting its middleware, management and Java development tools free to use.
The Company's release also points out no variation in pricing for corporate users, who will still have to pay for service and support for these products . Corporate users can use the company’s Java Enterprise System (JES) middleware stack for free, but they w ouldn ’t have free support or service.

Sun will make open-source JES, which includes
*Sun Java System Application Server 8.1.
*Sun Java System Access Manager 7.
*Sun Java System Directory Server 5.
* Sun Java SystemAdministration Server 5.
*Sun Java System Portal Server 6.2.
*Sun Java System Instant messaging 7.
And other proxy ,integration and communication suite. ..what else J

According to my knowledge and experience ,JES (Portal and Access manager ) functionalities are far behind than other competitors .Sun has not leveraged upon the most in-vogue Concept of the Collaborative Portal...…and making JES open source will definitely be a value addition.

Moreover, open sourced product brings its own advantages as it evolves to maturity with everyone pooling in ideas ,suggesting changes and developing features,

FatWire Content Server 6.3

Fatwire Software, today announced FatWire Content Server 6.3, the latest version of its Content Management Platform, and FatWire Analytics, the newest module in the Content Server product family.

New features in Content Server 6.3 include :

InSite Templating - New InSite Templating capabilities add to existing InSite Editing features that let non-
technical users edit content from within the context of a Web page.

Increased Portal Integration - Content Server 6.3 continues FatWire's focus on enabling robust content management solutions for portals. With its latest release, FatWire adds support for IBM's WebSphere Portal, providing out-of-the-box content management portlets for WebSphere Portal. It also extends the caching capabilities of FatWire Satellite Server to support portal environments.

Additional Platform Support -This release adds support for Solaris 10 and the latest versions of Oracle Application Server and Sun Java Enterprise Server.

FatWire Analytics Content Server users to access data on site visitors and content usage right from within the main Content Server interface. This ensures that those creating content and making editorial are able to quickly incorporate data about site visitors and content usage into their decision-making processes. Out-of-the-box reports provide data at the asset, page, and site levels, with easy drill-down for specific time periods.

source :Fatwire