Portal Management: Powering the Portals

Have you ever wondered how the MSN India website is able to pack
so much information from across diverse sources? The answer lies in the portal
framework the website has deployed in managing its content. For instance,
managing a portal is not an easy task, as it offers a slew of services to the
users from e-shopping, downloading latest ring tones to video streaming. All
this calls for a computing tool that can seamlessly integrate the content and
provide a unified experience to the browsers. Take the case of the Hutch GPRS
portal-a partnership between Microsoft and Hutch, the WAP based portal
delivers online content across diverse mobile devices. These are high traffic
portals that has deployed the portal framework solution from Chennai based
Vishwak Solutions. Since 2000, Vishwak has been the operations and development
partner for MSN India. The relationship has now expanded to cover many other
Asian regions like MSN Singapore and Hong Kong.

Complete Solutions

TNC Venkata Rangan, CMD, Vishwak says, "Primarily we are into portal
management. We provide solutions to both desktop and mobile environments. Our
portal framework is a valuable tool that provides a single point access to
information resources and services." The company's desktop-based portal
solution is offered through its solution called Vishwak Portal Framework (VPF).
This is a complete solution for portal and high traffic websites creation and
management. The framework helps in delivering content to numerous users and
provides a design environment to manage medium and large sites. The company's
deployment of its portal framework for MSN, is one of the biggest clients for
Vishwak. The company, by managing the MSN India portal, has created a unique
value for itself by successfully providing a solution for a portal such as MSN
India.

While MSN is a desktop portal, what about WAP based services?
When GSM major Hutch was looking for a technology partner to provide WAP based
services, it teamed up with Microsoft. "We did some R&D work for MSN on
how to render a page in mobile devices. When MSN-Hutch GPRS portal was launched,
we powered it," says Rangan.

	"Mobile operators are today facing challenges of declining ARPU and high subscriber churn. Hence, they need to provide compelling services to mobile users as Mobile Phones will be the first and only computers for many in the developing countries"
	-TNC Venkata Rangan, CMD, Vishwak Solutions

The company calls its mobile portal solution the Mobile Content
Delivery System (MCDS). This is a WAP based content management system. Where
does the company see an opportunity in this space? According to Rangan,
"Mobile operators are today facing challenges of declining ARPU and a high
subscriber churn. Hence, they need to provide compelling services to mobile
users. To manage this, a robust system is required to efficiently integrate the
content and deliver it to a wide variety of mobile devices."

Vishwak, by its successful desktop and mobile portal solutions,
is trying to carve a niche for itself as an end-to-end portal management player.
The company sees a huge opportunity in the Mobile Web. It is looking at
strategies to leverage its service offering to a wider base and looking at
mobile content developers who have content but were unable to sell it. Vishwak
intends providing services to those companies which can use its framework,
network with telecom companies and start selling value added services.

Shrikanth G

shrikanthg@cybermedia.co.in