From Organizational Portal to Personalized Work Environment
- Eyal Levin
- Jun 1, 2004
- 4 min read
When the second organizational computing system was born, so was the problem: how to ensure over time that organizational computing systems and various applications would unite with each other and communicate with each other in one language, while they certainly reside on one desk. Software companies with a proprietary worldview offer a simple solution for those willing to settle for tools from a single manufacturer.
The real solution to the problem appeared with the availability of the portal as a central tool in the world of organizational computing. Since then, the portal has constituted the front line of comprehensive computing architecture. It provides the end user with central access to data, processes, and applications running on different systems, all in a uniform user interface in terms of display and technology, while allowing for modification and personal customization according to the role needs and personal preferences of each user in the organization.
To achieve this goal, the portal serves as an integration hub that performs the integration of data, processes, and applications. Behind it, message management tools, traffic, and web services must operate. It needs to offer an expandable environment, based on shelf components and covering the entire breadth of the organization and all its hardware, operating, and application platforms. To support the front line of the portal, it must be accompanied by a unified development environment that is expandable and open to partners and external applications.
The portal can serve the organization's employees (B2E), relationships with other businesses (B2B), or end customers (B2C). It must handle content management tasks, search, and interface with various applications, as well as ERP and CRM systems. It constitutes the infrastructure for external e-commerce and business, as well as integrating into workflow management within the organization itself. Needless to say, everything must also operate in a secure environment that is technologically efficient, reliable in its routine operation, and economical in investment.
Open standards primarily enable the freedom to choose hardware, operating systems, software infrastructure, development environments, and suppliers. Open standards largely encourage competition and drive the relentless arms race between different manufacturers, a race that continuously improves and refines products. Technology doesn't stand still, and manufacturers are required to work hard to maintain their market position – they must continually maintain competitiveness. The business significance for the customer is better service and continuous product improvement.
The existing standards today in the portal world are JSR 168 and WSRP, which enable organizations to preserve their investment by choosing portals that support these infrastructures. Many companies, such as IBM, which focuses on organizational computing, adopt these standards and partner in their leadership.
However, a portal – with all its centrality – is only one layer in the desktop computing system. Moreover, as the variety of end systems within the organization continues to grow, users must be provided with tools to run a unified application environment not only at the portal level but also at the business application level. Thus, just as the portal concept – Java applets running portal parts – contributed to the leap in the portal world, we must continue to develop a new, comprehensive end environment that combines web-based computing principles with traditional personal computing environments. The new computing concept offers a unified, flexible, and secure approach to accessing, sharing, and managing business applications and information.
IBM's new operating model, for example, is based on a server-managed client station, allowing centralized, focused control over overall management and resource allocation. Thus, it's possible to instantly deploy and distribute central business applications and the data they require to a wide variety of end systems, from traditional desktop computers and laptops to dedicated systems such as information terminals deployed throughout the production floor, handheld computers, or cellular phones. The use of new software component technologies allows IBM to combine low ownership costs with the qualities and power of web-based applications, without sacrificing the flexibility offered by personal computing systems. As a result, customers won't need to continue managing different applications in their internet environment and desktop systems. The integration made possible by IBM's new software infrastructures allows for the enjoyment of all the advantages of computing based on a single client model.
IBM's new computing model enables management of a wide range of end devices and client systems – from desktop and laptop personal computers, handheld computers, cellular phones, to embedded computer systems. Thus, it's possible to expand the coverage range of existing applications and open access to them from any such end device. As a result, users can choose any end device, across a wide range of operating systems, to collaborate with other people in the organization, access applications, and manage business information at any time and from any location where needed. This concept supports the evolving computing environment, where people will prefer to use a variety of end devices throughout their workday, which may be in a connected or disconnected state to the network at any given moment.
The new software tools provide an enhanced approach for development, delivery, and centralized management of user applications within a server-managed client computing model. Instant messaging software designed for users in any web browser provides a rich user experience that was previously known only to personal computer users, along with central management and the price advantages of web-based applications. Additional systems enable the tracking and central management of various types of documents across different sites, as well as the editing and saving of documents that combine multiple formats.
The new client technologies expand the coverage range of organizational computing applications and portals to a wide variety of end systems. Their availability simplifies the processes of building, deploying, and operating applications with broad functionality – all in an organization-wide deployment, under one central, focused control. Thus, it's also possible to manage applications in an environment like that of mobile salespeople, whose computing systems are not connected to the network all the time: the system knows how to manage the information, synchronize it, and update it when the user connects to the network.
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