META predicts boom for portal market in 2004

In its latest analysis report of the enterprise portal framework market, analysts META Group said it expects revenues in the market segment to jump by 150 percent in 2004.

Portal frameworks provide a pre-integrated set of services that are used to build portal interfaces. Identity management, personalisation, page assembly, stylesheets, search, taxonomy, content management, usage tracking, application integration, single sign-on, and collaboration all play important roles in portal frameworks, which may either provide or help integrate these technologies.

The analyst group also suggested that as portals become more ingrained in customer and employee business processes, the percentage of organisations that treat portals as core (non-discretionary) systems should increase from the current figure of less than 10 percent to 15 percent by 2004, ultimately reaching 35 percent by 2007.

"The portal market has garnered a great deal of attention, yet is only 40 percent penetrated at this point," said Craig Roth, Vice President with META Group's Technology Research Services, and lead author of the report. "By year-end 2004, 85 percent of Global 2000 organisations will have selected an enterprise portal framework. As a result, we expect over 150 percent revenue growth for the portal market in 2004."

     The opportunities for expansion will be shared by a select few vendors, with the field of leading players having contracted by 26 percent since last year. The reduction, from 19 to 14 players, was due to vendors either being acquired or retreating to defensible positions outside the standalone portal market. According to META, over the next year, another 20 percent of the players will exit the portal market. This market maturity has proven a boon for purchasers of enterprise portals, since highly viable vendors now offer products that are technologically competitive with smaller standalone vendors.

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