Computer Associates International is to bundle its CleverPath
Portal application with content management, data analysis and
rules-based automation tools from next year.
CA executives said some of the promised enhancements would become
available in the coming months. The company hoped to use the
upgraded portal server to take on IT middleware vendors such as
IBM, as well as developers of business intelligence software, said
Ricardo Antuna, senior vice-president of CleverPath marketing at
CA.
However, CA will not demonstrate a complete version of the expanded
portal application to users until its world conference in
July.
Antuna said that the company has yet to set a specific time frame
for shipping the full release, which will include a mix of its own
existing tools that have been specially integrated. When ready, the
software will include support for managing the use of corporate
documents as well as the ability to set the software to trigger
automated actions within applications.
Companies wanting to create that kind of portal infrastructure
typically need to buy and then integrate the separate applications
themselves, Antuna said. "We're trying to define a new way of doing
this," he added. "The delivery mechanism is the portal, but all the
modules need to belong together."
Although CA is keeping up with its rivals in the crowded portal
business, it is not a market leader, said Gartner analyst Ray
Valdes.
Other companies taking similar steps include business application
vendors SAP and PeopleSoft. The bundling moves should put CA, SAP
and PeopleSoft in position to use their portals to cross-sell their
other software products to users.