Plumtree Software is poised to take the wraps off the latest
version of its portal platform featuring expanded Web services
capabilities and a unified code base for Windows and Java.
Building on existing Soap (Simple Object Access Protocol) support
in the portal, Plumtree Corporate Portal 4.5WS adds Web
services-based extensibility to user authentication and content
indexing.
Using SOAP over HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), the Crawler Web
Services capability lets the portal connect to and index external
document repositories via Web services.
Meanwhile, the Authentication Web Services function is designed to
authenticate users from other directories to the portal, according
to Phil Soffer, director of product management at Plumtree.
"The good thing about Web services is that it gives us a path
toward having some standards around how applications connect to
portals," he said.
Plumtree is involved in both the Java JSR 168 and the OASIS WSRP
(Web services for Remote Portlets) standardisation efforts, Soffer
added.
Previous versions of the portal offered the ability to integrate
application Gadgets and search engines to the portal via
Soap.
Furthermore, Version 4.5WS unifies the code base for its Windows
and Unix versions, allowing enterprises to connect Java and
Microsoft systems much more easily
The 4.5WS also includes enhanced search capabilities designed to
streamline the administration of a search index by simplifying the
process of refreshing the search index, re-indexing content,
discarding broken links, and deleting old content.
Corporate Portal 4.5WS is available on 24 May on both Windows and
Sun Solaris platforms.