Choosing the right content delivery solution

Often overlooked in IBM’s Web Content Management system is its ability to deliver web sites three different ways:

1. Pre-rendered – in this mode, IBM WCM creates standard HTML pages for your site and delivers them to a standard web server.  For static content or brochureware, this is an excellent way to deliver web content.  In fact, this is how many of the other content management systems work.
2. Servlet rendering – in this mode, content is served directly from WCM using its servlet engine.  So instead of creating static HTML pages, the servlet method gives you more flexibility for dynamic content.  In addition, you can apply J2EE security, use personalization features and more.
3. Portlet rendering – in this mode, IBM WCM serves content to IBM Portal through standard portlets.  This is the mode most people associate with IBM WCM.  Using the portlet rendering mode, you can take advantage of all the features in both IBM WCM and Portal.

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It is true that IBM WCM requires IBM Portal for the authoring environment.  So when you purchase IBM WCM, you are getting IBM Portal as well.  You go into Portal and the WCM Authoring portlet to enter content, set up site areas, etc.  However, when you want to publish your web content to the world, you don’t have to always do it through Portal.  Depending on your site’s needs, you can choose any of the modes listed above.

Stefan Hepper, an IBM WCM architect,  recently posted a short article on IBM DeveloperWorks outlining these delivery solutions for IBM WCM.  He also includes a table that shows more details on the features available in each method.  I included a small image of the table here, but I encourage you to look at the entire table on DeveloperWorks.