Resumen
This article proposes a definition that distinguishes portals from all other types of information systems and a General Portal Model for identifying and organizing the basic services portals provide. The potential of the web portal market and its technology has attracted some of the biggest computer and software firms. It has inspired the mutation of search engines and the establishment of new vendors. Yet the meaning of portal is not well defined and its use, even within the industry, remains problematic. Originally coined to describe Web-based applications that provide organized access to the resources of the Internet through search engines and lists of Web sites, the term portal has been applied to systems that differ widely in capabilities and complexity, from static Web pages providing links to resources on a given topic to interorganizational systems providing access to multiple heterogeneous data sources and applications. Portal is defined as an infrastructure providing secure, customizable, personalizable, integrated access to dynamic content from a variety of sources, in a variety of source formats, wherever it is needed.