Air Force Planning Solo Flight For Its Web Portal Available To Authorized Users Air Force brass wanted to streamline Web operations and allow personalization.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)

Byline: THOMAS YORK

The Internet portal, increasingly popular in business, is joining the military.

The Air Force last month said it will consolidate more than 110 Web sites into a single portal to keep its online presence in fighting trim.

The Air Force says the portal will be accessible to its 1.2 million airmen and women starting early next year. It will use software and related services provided by Redwood City, Calif.-based BroadVision Inc. and privately held Plumtree Software Inc. of San Francisco.

A portal is a sort of master Web site designed to be an online user's convenient starting point into the Internet. The Air Force portal will be available only to authorized users. They'll be able to do such things as update the repair status of jet fighters and search for parts. From this same site, they'll even be able to obtain front-line combat intelligence and weather forecasts.

The project will "help us minimize the costs of integrating a large number of databases and applications, and offer a single point of access for mission-critical information," said Lt. Col. Mark Bryant, the Air Force's portal program manager.

The portal won't be open to the public. Other branches of the armed services, however, will be able to use the site.