WebSphere Portal Gets UDDI Functionality
New release has ability to publish as a Web service along with advanced collaboration features.
Announcing WebSphere Portal 4.1 in April, IBM highlighted the new release's ability to publish as a Web service, along with its advanced collaboration features.
The new release allows enterprises to plug the portal server into a UDDI registry and make portlets available as Web services. Portlets are plug-ins from ISVs to integrate applications easily with WebSphere portals. Because portals are frequently deployed as a means to make enterprise applications more accessible to end-users, publishing as a Web service further expands the ways an application can reach users. [For a comprehensive look at the portal market, see "Portals Pay Off" and "Business Snapshot: Portals."—Ed.]
The new release also adds collaboration features to help workers find and communicate with other workers. Users can use the portal to create buddy lists within the organization and know whether their buddies are online. The software also enables workers to create virtual spaces to share data within a working group or hold online conferences.