Despite persistent complaints that they are "heavy," "thick," and overly complex, portal server technologies continue to be widely deployed by enterprises. Although leading vendors are evolving portal servers into broad content and collaboration platforms, the core portal services — aggregation "on the glass" and user authorization for access control and personalization — remain the leading use cases. Newer alternatives, including open source platforms and mashups, are gaining ground. Information and knowledge management teams should carefully evaluate their needs to determine if a portal server layer is appropriate.