Jennifer Mears

As caching vendors have focused on improving the Internet

Enterprise information portals have been a boon to businesses that want to provide a single point of entry to their vast resources of disparate information. But along with the benefits have come hurdles, primarily in the area of technical integration.

Content delivery specialist Akamai Technologies is readying a version of its patented technology that companies can use internally to speed distribution of content, data and applications among employees.

Application service provider and Web hosting company Interliant Inc. Tuesday launched a security service that pinpoints network vulnerabilities.

Despite recent troubles in the hosting market, IBM Corp. says its hosting division is on a roll. Big Blue reported US$600 million worth of new customer business during the third quarter and says hosting revenue so far this year totals $1.7 billion, about double a year ago. Network World senior writer Jennifer Mears recently spoke with Jim Corgel, who took over as general manager of IBM's e-business hosting services in April.

The term "portal" denotes everything from a souped-up Web site to a turbocharged intranet. Add the word "enterprise" and the hype machine purrs even louder.

IBM Corp. this week unveiled WebSphere Portal, which combines the capabilities of its previous portal products and uses open standards to create a single platform for deploying a wide range of portal initiatives.

Enterprises using Hummingbird