The Sun/Netscape Alliance has announced new server software aimed at helping companies and service providers conduct the membership management, personalisation, content aggregation, security and legacy integration services needed to run an e-commerce hub site.
The iPlanet Portal Server will act as a proxy between Web browsers and legacy applications, allowing users to view and use those applications in a secure fashion.
The new product will ship with the iPlanet Web Server and Directory Server. It will have built-in application programming interfaces to work with personalisation and customer analysis products, such as those from E.piphany, net.Genesis and Net Perceptions.
The Portal Server will also work with the optional iPlanet Application Server.
"Companies have been faced with information overload in this Internet economy," Tim Minahan, an analyst at Aberdeen Group, said.
"[The] iPlanet [Portal Server] has the potential to pull all those resources into a logical format."