There’s been a lot of noise of late about big announcements from Google concerning Wave, yet another portal framework (at least the developer brief makes it sound like one) and its disruptive potential for the Internet. Let’s not forget the emerging standards for do-it-yourself “portals”: the Drupals, Wordpresses and Alfrescos of the world. A purist (like me) would gripe that none of these are not true enterprise portal frameworks. Some are social platforms; others content management systems masquerading with portal-esque features. A full-blown portal implies a breadth of functionality that includes all of the above, plus an underlying architecture that allows one to do pretty much whatever. A portal worth its salt is equally useful as a drop-and-pop solution or as a foundation for a completely proprietary result (hint: the former typically leads down a path to the latter so start with a big enough boat). Portals are rapidly creeping into the space that is traditionally content management and digital asset management, infusing social in to the mix everywhere. “Stavie’s Pick” is Liferay because it’s all that and a bag of chips with a community that’s seeded from one of the brightest I’ve witnessed; these guys are true rock stars.

Regardless, portals, for all practical purposes, are akin to an operating system; it just happens that the OS is the Internet (Wave+Chrome, by the way, are no coincidence). Like most desktop OS, each has its strengths and merits, and frequently, one is more aptly suited to achieve a specific goal than another. The evolution of each product in its respective market space defines where. As it turns out, they are all good, all useful and all a potential solution. Predictably, the trick is in picking the right combinations and getting them to play nice together. If only there were a LinkMyTwitFace.com . . . or whatever flavors you prefer.

Enter the Cold Stone Creamery of opportunities for portal: custom mashups of many points of presence create ubiquity and agility for brands. Mashing already mashed social points of presence to build brand awareness is, well, mushy. How does one create a cohesive brand presence and a single point of administration? The trick is not in picking a platform, but rather, the platforms that are critical to meet your business goals. Moreover, a wise strategy will find the right balance of brand CMS, portal, asset management and other applications that comprise a modern Internet-based OS to build brand awareness and drive prosperity.

The tools are only half the puzzle and the real trick is getting them to talk to each other. The secret sauce is to know when to Wave, when to Tweet and when to Liferay.