Integrators Back BEA Portal Push

Global integrators such as Accenture as well as smaller e-business architects such as Novo Corp. are among the services companies backing BEA Systems recently unveiled portal initiative.

BEAs portal push includes the launch Monday of WebLogic Portal 4.0 and WebLogic Integration 2.1. The company also established a BEA Portal Star Solution program for software vendors and systems integrators. Through the program, partners build application portlets for BEA WebLogic Portal 4.0, integrate their applications into BEA WebLogic Portal 4.0, or develop consulting practices for the portal platform.

Ken Goldberg, senior director of business development at BEA, says Accenture, Computer Sciences Corp., and PricewaterhouseCoopers have “committed to leverage our portal platform.” Smaller integrators such as Novo and regional integrators also are on board with BEAs portal program. Novo, for example, announced it will provide technical architecture development and user experience design services for BEA WebLogic Portal 4.0.

Alicia Astrich, strategic alliances director at Novo, says the company has four years of experience with WebLogic Server, completing projects for such customers as Orbitz, a travel Web site, and Gloss.com, a health and beauty Web site.

In expanding this relationship, Novo has made its “first and only commitment” in the portal space to BEA, Astrich says. She says BEAs enterprise portal push is on track with Novos plans to create portals that span a customers lines of business and tap into a variety of data sources. “Our goal is to integrate with anything across an enterprise to add value,” she says.

In addition, Goldberg says he soon expects Andersen, Deloitte, and KPMG, which have previously partnered with BEA, to back BEAs portal initiative and e-business platform “in a much stronger way.”

Overall, 66 integrators and ISVs are participating in Portal Star Solution, Goldberg says. He says the programs goal is to gather partners possessing core portal “building blocks”—such as content management, analytics, and collaboration—so customers can acquire “end-to-end” solutions.

Another aspect of Portal Star Solution is BEA Portlet Gallery, to which partners may post application, content and Web services portlets. The company expects to have 1,000 portlets posted by the end of April 2002.

The portal program is one of three Star Solution (www.bea.com/partners/star_solution.shtml) initiatives at BEA, which previously launched Wireless Star Solution and Integration Star Solution. The Star Solution programs, in turn, are part of BEAs Star Partner program.