Yahoo drafts allies for portal tool

Under the agreement with Oracle announced Tuesday, the database company will integrate My Yahoo Enterprise Edition into its 9i Application Server software. The partnership with San Francisco-based Moreover, which aggregates content from more than 5,500 Web sites daily, should widen the range of information available through Yahoo's corporate portal application.

Steve Boom, senior vice president of Yahoo Enterprise Solutions, said that Yahoo is pursuing deals with companies that can supply information important to a wide range of business users.

"The part of the market that is not being addressed is finding the right mix of content for the average knowledge worker," said Boom. "There's a lot of content out there for highly specialized workers, but we're working on content that has broad appeal."

My Yahoo Enterprise Edition is the Web giant's latest portal software, which is used by companies to consolidate and filter information from a range of sources into a single interface that can be seen by employees, customers and business partners. The system offers an array of "portlets," which allow users to drop links to industry news, stock quotes and Web-based applications into their own portal sites.

The Yahoo deal could help drive sales of Oracle's database, application server and business software. According to the Redwood Shores, Calif.-based company, some 16,000 users are already using Oracle9i Application Server.

Yahoo has also formed relationships with business software companies such as BEA Systems, SAP, Sun Microsystems and Tibco Software.

Boom said Yahoo is in partnership talks with a number of other portal software makers. Customer demand will direct Yahoo's ally-making decisions, he said, noting that users had been putting pressure on the company to establish a deal with Oracle.

A free demo of My Yahoo Enterprise Edition is available for download, and a 30-day trial version of the application will be offered for users of supported portal software platforms in August, according to Yahoo.

The deals come as Yahoo continues to gobble up pieces of the Internet search market. On Monday, the company announced it would buy rival Overture in attempt to garner a larger slice of the online advertising market.