EMERYVILLE, CALIF. (02/10/2000) - Sybase Inc. next month will begin shipping a software collection that addresses one of the toughest jobs facing companies today: forging connections between end users, the enterprise Web and back-end applications.
Sybase's Enterprise Portal includes programs for building a main Web site for internal and external users - often called a portal or gateway - that provides access to data and applications sitting on mainframes and other back-end servers as well as to private and public Web documents. A complementary set of tools lets end users tailor the Web site's information and interfaces to meet their specific needs.
Sybase has built Enterprise Portal so that it can run on clusters of servers, and shift connections and users automatically if a server or network link fails. The software is also designed to handle high traffic volumes.
"Portals become a critical entry point for an enterprise and its users and customers," says Robert Breton, a senior director with Sybase's enterprise solutions division. "As a result, we wanted to have technology for load balancing, failover, data protection and so on, all built into the core product."
The package's versatility is due in large part to its accommodation of third-party software plug-ins, including those from a dozen vendors that Sybase last week said have pledged their support for Enterprise Portal. In addition to Sybase's own database and application server technology, Enterprise Portal includes the Apache Web server, publish/subscribe technology from Tibco and e-commerce software from Vignette, among other third-party offerings.
"They've created a very open architecture, so you can integrate an array of other systems, databases and data held in enterprise resource planning and other enterprise applications," says Alan Goldman, a senior analyst with Harvard Research Group in Boxborough, Mass.
One early user is RadMD.com, the San Bruno, Calif., division of National Imaging Associates. Managed care companies, such as United HealthCare and Blue Cross/Blue Shield, contract with RadMD to assist doctors in deciding what kinds of diagnostic imaging tests to order for patients. RadMD is building a Web portal, based on Sybase's offering, to make such guidelines accessible to doctors via Web browsers.
"Enterprise Portal will let physicians access these services from any kind of browser device, 24 hours a day, in addition to using our call center," says Robert LaGalia, RadMD's senior vice president for e-business. "We like Enterprise Portal because it's a common gateway for any kind of access path."
By December, users of handheld computers and personal digital assistants also will be able to access the site.
RadMD will use the Sybase software to target specific information at different groups of physicians. Cardiologists, for example, likely will want to see data on congestive heart failure and buy cardiology supplies. Using Sybase's personalization tools, RadMD can match information with the appropriate audience.
Pricing information on Enterprise Portal, which runs on all major Unix operating systems and Windows NT, will be released next month.
Sybase: www.sybase.com.