Oracle and BEA enterprise portal customers "can expect a
rocky ride" following theOracle acquisition of BEAannounced
this week.
Analyst CMS Watch says that some of the largest enterprise
portal suppliers are experiencing the most change right now, and
therefore software choices that currently appear conservative to
customers might actually carry significant near-term risks.
BEA and Oracle customers in particular should expect to see
major shifts pending this week's acquisition announcement, said CMS
Watch, as four overlapping enterprise portal products will be
competing for attention at the merged firm.
CMS Watch analyst Janus Boye said, "CIOs increasingly view
enterprise portals as a key element in strategies ranging from SOA
to
Web 2.0, so they naturally seek to minimise product and
supplier risk.
"However, procurement managers should understand that some of
the biggest names in this business are undergoing substantial
transformation, that will lead to shifting roadmaps and product
sets over the next few years."
Boyce said Oracle had "leapfrogged" its longstanding Oracle
Portal product with a quite new and lightly implemented Oracle
WebCenter systems. It has now acquired BEA - itself supporting two
different portal products, after cancelling plans to merge them
into a single platform.
Upon concluding the take-over, Oracle will support four separate
enterprise portal products that substantially overlap, said
Boyce.
The portal changes at Oracle and BEA follow similar major portal
changes at Sun, SAP and Microsoft, Boyce said.
