Q. What is SharePoint Portal Server 2003?
A. SharePoint Portal Server 2003 is the scalable portal server that connects people, teams, and knowledge across business processes.

SharePoint Portal Server 2003 integrates information from various systems into one secure solution through single sign-on and enterprise application integration capabilities. It provides flexible deployment and management tools, and facilitates end-to-end collaboration through data aggregation, organization, and searching. SharePoint Portal Server 2003 also enables users to quickly find relevant information through customization and personalization of portal content and layout as well as through audience targeting. Audience targeting aims information and updates to individuals based on their organizational role, team membership, interest, security group, or any other membership criteria that can be defined using notifications or Web Parts.


Q. What is Windows SharePoint Services? Is it part of SharePoint Portal Server 2003?
A. Windows SharePoint Services is the engine that allows you to create Web sites for information sharing and document collaboration. A key piece of the information worker infrastructure delivered in Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Windows SharePoint Services provides additional functionality to the Microsoft Office System and other desktop applications, as well as serving as a platform for application development.

SharePoint sites provide communities for team collaboration, enabling users to work together on documents, tasks, and projects. The environment is designed for easy and flexible deployment, administration, and application development. For more information, read the Windows SharePoint Services Integration with Microsoft Office white paper.


Q. What is the relationship between SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and Windows SharePoint Services?
A. Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies (including SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and Windows SharePoint Services) deliver highly scalable collaboration solutions with flexible deployment and management tools. Windows SharePoint Services provides sites for team collaboration, while SharePoint Portal Server 2003 connects these sites, people, and business processes—facilitating knowledge sharing and smart organizations.

SharePoint Portal Server 2003 also extends the capabilities of Windows SharePoint Services by providing organizational and management tools for SharePoint sites, and by enabling teams to publish information to the entire organization. For more information about the relationship between SharePoint Portal Server and Windows SharePoint Services, visit the Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server 2003 page.


Q. What are the main benefits of SharePoint Portal Server 2003?
A. SharePoint Portal Server 2003 was designed with three goals in mind: personalization, integration, and collaboration. The personalization features enable information workers and site managers to create and manage personal sites, and to profile them for search, audience targeting, and subject-matter expertise. SharePoint Portal Server 2003 provides seamless organization and integration of Windows SharePoint Services sites, providing a layer of discoverability and manageability over previously disconnected sites within an organization. And the extended collaboration components in SharePoint Portal Server 2003 help connect people to information and to each other.


Q. Who is SharePoint Portal Server 2003 designed for?
A. SharePoint Portal Server 2003 is designed for teams and individuals inside medium-sized and large organizations.


Q. Why should organizations or teams consider using SharePoint Portal Server 2003?
A. SharePoint Portal Server enables organizations to create and manage team and person sites, seamlessly integrate with previously disconnected sites, and enable teams and individuals to collaborate with each other. Customers will be able to locate and organize applications, teams, and people, as well as integrate and provision collaboration sites from one place. In addition, they can get access to contextually relevant information, including My Team, My Site, My Info, and have it serve as a very large and flexible enterprise solution. What's more, customers will get personal sites with public and private views; a rich collaboration experience with Office System integration; and knowledge management across personal, team, and enterprise spaces.


Q. How much will SharePoint Portal Server 2003 cost?
A. See SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Pricing and Licensing for detailed pricing and licensing information.


Q. If I acquire SharePoint Portal Server 2001 today, will I be able to upgrade to the 2003 version?
A. Yes. Microsoft provides content migration tools and documentation to upgrade from SharePoint Portal Server 2001 to SharePoint Portal Server 2003. However, you will need to re-create the visual customizations on SharePoint Team Services 1.0 sites, including ASP.NET, Web Parts, navigation, and layouts.


Q. How do SharePoint Products and Technologies integrate with the Microsoft Office System?
A. The Microsoft Office System will provide significant integration with Windows SharePoint Services, enabling users to work together more efficiently on an ad-hoc basis by using SharePoint sites and Document Workspace sites. These appear in a new task pane in Microsoft Office System documents.

Other new features include version control, Meeting Workspace site-creation tools, live data linking from Microsoft Office Excel 2003 and Microsoft Office Access 2003, and calendar sharing. For more information, read the Windows SharePoint Services Integration with Microsoft Office white paper.


Q. How do I get Windows SharePoint Services?
A. Windows SharePoint Services is a component of the Windows Server™ 2003 information worker infrastructure that also serves as a platform for application development. It is available to users of Windows Server 2003.


Q. What are the system requirements for Windows SharePoint Services?
A. See the Windows SharePoint Services system requirements.


Q. What are the system requirements for SharePoint Portal Server 2003?
A. See the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 system requirements.