Microsoft Corp. announced branding and RC1 availability for its forthcoming enterprise portal solution, Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server. Previously code-named “Tahoe,” SharePoint Portal Server is the flexible portal solution from Microsoft that allows companies to easily find, share and publish information. The new server provides seamless knowledge portal integration with the Microsoft Office and Windows operating system productivity desktop environment, allowing enterprise customers to integrate document management, search, subscriptions and online discussions into their document collaboration process. SharePoint Portal Server has broad support for enterprise content sources and data types so users can find pertinent information quickly and easily. With one of the most comprehensive, timely and relevant search engines in the industry, SharePoint Portal Server can index multiple content sources, including Web servers, file servers, Exchange public folders, Lotus Notes databases, etc., and present search results based on a probabilistic ranking algorithm. In addition, SharePoint Portal Server supports adaptive crawling, allowing the server to “learn” where information changes the most frequently on relevant sites. In addition to its content aggregation technology, SharePoint Portal Server includes document management features that allow companies to incorporate business processes into their portal solution through check-in/check-out, version tracking and approval routing functionality. Built on Internet and industry standards such as XML, the digital dashboard-based UI can be easily customized and extended by adding Web Parts: reusable components that can contain any kind of Web-based information. SharePoint Portal Server also allows customers to search and index information stored in Web sites based on SharePoint Team Services, a new server-based team Web site solution from Microsoft that allows small teams and ad hoc groups to easily manage activities and work together. RC1 is now available for download from the Microsoft Web site at www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/ and will be the only release candidate before the final version, due later this year. www.microsoft.com