November 1, 2006; 06:40 AM The long waiting game will soon end for enterprises looking to upgrade
their Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2003 installations, as the
much delayed Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 becomes
generally available later this month. However, after a major and
potentially difficult transition, customers will find that MOSS 2007
brings many of the same limitations as its predecessor, according to
the latest semi-annual release of the "Enterprise Portals Report" from
independent analyst firm, CMS Watch.
MOSS is a part of the new Office 2007, also due out in November. MOSS
now combines traditional SharePoint collaboration and portal services
with Microsoft CMS and adds new functionality, such as records
management.
Microsoft has published initial guidance and best practices for
upgrading from SharePoint 2003 to MOSS 2007. Nevertheless, upgrading
will require careful planning and extensive testing given the dearth of
real-world upgrade experience. Meanwhile, example upgrade solutions
emphasize installations with minimal changes to the default
configurations of the old version.
In its Report, CMS Watch identifies seven common enterprise portals, of
which MOSS excels at two: Collaboration and Web Development. "For use
as an enterprise portal, MOSS will remain an unlikely fit for most
e-business scenarios or enterprise-wide deployments in large
organizations," according to Lead Report Analyst, Janus Boye. "MOSS
adds a long set of new features, but MOSS should still only be
considered for departmental collaboration or intranet scenarios in
mid-market organizations already using Microsoft intensively," adds
Boye.
Other Report findings include:
- The previous dependency on Internet Explorer is gone, but the most
value from enhanced Office integration will come to those enterprises
concurrently upgrading to Office 2007. Customers on older versions of
Office may find their usability mileage varies.
- As with the previous version, ease of installation obscures
difficulty in customization and ongoing maintenance; administrators can
easily get in over their head.
- Microsoft's all-important consulting channel will need substantial
time to absorb and learn the tool. Experience with previous versions of
SharePoint suggests that this learning process will be measured in
years.
- Microsoft has not issued clear plans for subsequent releases.
"Microsoft has tried to go 'enterprise' in the impressive breadth of
MOSS capabilities, but not necessarily in their depth and scalability,"
notes CMS Watch founder Tony Byrne.
CMS Watch (www.cmswatch.com)
is an independent analyst firm that evaluates content technologies and
strategies for prospective solutions buyers. Based on hundreds of
interviews with enterprise portal customers worldwide, the Report's 2nd
Edition includes detailed comparisons across 16 key feature categories.
A new 17-page review of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server evaluates
the new offering. Pricing begins at $550 for the individual vendor
chapter.
The new Edition of the Enterprise Portals Report is designed to help
enterprises make faster and better buying decisions. Like all CMS Watch
offerings, the Report does not rank "best" vendors, but instead details
the strengths and weaknesses of the various suppliers, identifies their
suitability for different use cases, and isolates vendor tendencies
that may influence long-term product roadmaps.
About CMS Watch
CMS Watch(tm) is an analyst firm that provides an independent source of
buyer's advice on content management, enterprise search, and portal
technologies. Through highly detailed reports, CMS Watch helps sort out
the complex landscape of potential solutions so that project teams can
minimize the time and effort to identify and evaluate technologies
suited to their particular requirements. To retain its independence as
a vendor-neutral analyst firm, CMS Watch works solely for solutions
buyers and never for the vendors it covers.
Contacts:
Kristie Hughes, Marketing Director, CMS Watch
Tel: +1 202 966 6999
Janus Boye, Contributing Analyst - Europe, CMS Watch
Tel: +45 36 96 54 20
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