What is a Portal?

Web portals are sites on the World Wide Web that provide a single access point to distributed applications, from a number of different sources. Essentially, content from different areas or applications is all presented on one web page. Portals make it easy for people to find information targeted specifically at them. A portal can also provide single sign-on. So, for example, from a single web page, we can access OASIS, Blackboard, SIS, and e-mail, etc. Instead of hunting the web for information, a person identifies himself to the portal, and the portal brings all relevant information to the person.