Vignette steps up portal software push

Vignette unveiled new corporate portal software that will help make it easier for businesses to mange relationships with their customers, partners, suppliers and employees. The new packaged application, dubbed Vignette Enterprise Application Portal, will allow companies to handle many of their business activities such as sales, business collaboration and employee relations through a single interface. Vignette, which develops personalization tools for e-commerce and content-management software, is combining some of that core software with the new portal application. The company's portal software will also include business intelligence tools, which are typically used by companies to track, analyze and improve their performance. Vignette's portal software is scheduled to be available in early July. Many software makers have been dipping into the lucrative corporate portal sector. Despite a high-growth area, most players including Vignette, Viador and others are facing increased competition from larger competitors such as Oracle, Microsoft and IBM.