Plumtree branches out with new release

Plumtree Software has just released its Corporate Portal Version 4.0, which is driven by an engine that processes user requests for information and applications from a variety of computers in parallel. The so-called Massively Parallel Portal Engine integrates these resources as Plumtree Portal Gadgets, which are components that embed key information and services from enterprise applications and Internet sites. The engine integrates gadgets operating on separate computers, which simultaneously prepare information or services to embed in each user's portal page.

This approach divides the preparation of a potentially large number of services among a large number of computers. Plumtree explains that if, for example, a portal page embeds a gadget for listing e-mail messages that takes one second to prepare, an inventory report gadget that takes one second to prepare and an industry news gadget that takes one second to prepare, the engine assembles the page in approximately one second, instead of three.

The parallel engine communicates with gadgets on computers separate from the main portal server via the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP). To support interactive gadgets, Plumtree reports it has developed an approach for embedding gadget commands in HTTP headers that broker Web services between gadgets and the main portal server. Further, the company says, processing gadgets on separate computers precludes them from interfering with the main portal server and with one another, isolating slow-running or faulty gadgets to improve scalability and reliability.

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