IT professionals looking to make informed purchasing decisions on intranet and extranet software products and tools can turn to a new paid Web service that provides comparative information on these systems. Compariscope from Intraware Inc. applies a user-defined, weighted scale of product characteristics to evaluate software products in 45 market segments - from electronic commerce to decision support to project management. Each intranet or extranet application is evaluated using category specific features and benefits, and a vendor "track record" details length of time in business, company size, positioning, and strategic partnerships. Up to 90 different criteria can be compared for any particular application.
Cost for unlimited access includes an upfront charge of $10,000 for 10 named users for one year. A starter, or "pilot" fee of $3,000 for five named users for three months allows interested users to evaluate the service. By adding an additional $7,000, these pilot users can upgrade to the one year, 10-named-user service.
Compariscope offers reports on the top three to seven vendors in each of 14 application categories, including messaging and groupware, application-development tools, decision-support tools, netwok management, and project management. Compariscope will be adding new categories, to a targeted 45, by year end.
