The term 'Web portal' is used in many different contexts throughout the Internet, in business plans and in marketing strategies. Rapidly changing technology reinvents this term regularly, but it maintains a number of distinctive characteristics:

• usually a location online that acts as a springboard to other areas of information which allows a user to make sense of a vast amount of content
• encompasses some sort of search feature to sift through information - an early example of this would be yahoo.com
• allows the user to define themselves within the Web site, enabling them to pursue the information they require - i.e. segregating content by demographic - continuing education students go here, undergraduate students go here
• incorporates a login feature that enables a personalized experience; the next time the page is visited, information pertinent to the users own specific needs and wants will appear
• creates a relationship between the user, the provider and other users

In all industry sectors, there is a growing need to allow users to find the information they need quickly. To add a personalized experience to this process creates a seamlessness in the Internet experience.

EDge's expertise lies within creating Web portals for the education sector focusing on giving a school the ability to create a relationship with a student online. Examples of this model include www.myfuture.utoronto.ca. EDge also publishes its own Web portals such as MySchool101.com.