Lead Analysts: Peter Pawlak [bio] and Chris Alliegro [bio]
Posted: Sep. 1, 2003

Upgrades for a pair of closely related server products that host Web portals will ship in Oct. 2003. Windows SharePoint Services, the successor to SharePoint Team Services and a free add-on for Windows Server 2003, makes it easier to create and customize team sites—specialized intranet portal sites for team and project information. When combined with Office 2003, Windows SharePoint Services supports common team-based activities such as document collaboration and meeting facilitation.

Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003, Microsoft’s product for hosting corporate portals, is also getting a major makeover. Unlike its predecessor, SharePoint Portal Server 2003 is built on Windows SharePoint Services and, by taking advantage of that product's use of the .NET Framework and underlying SQL Server database, scales much better than before. However, the radical design changes will orphan "Web Parts" built for the previous version of SharePoint Portal Server, and users of the new version must still purchase or upgrade Client Access Licenses.

This report assesses the changes and new features in Windows SharePoint Services and Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and is intended to help IT decision-makers evaluate the pros and cons of both products before making purchase or upgrade decisions.