vortal

Variation on the concept of the Internet portal. A contraction of ‘vertical portal’, vortals are Web sites aggregating industry-specific content and tailoring it to the needs of that particular industry. Examples of this type of commercial vortal include plastics.net (plastics industry), bidcom.com (construction), and altra.com (energy). There is also VerticalNet, a collection of industry-specific communities like nurses.com. Vortals are not exclusively business-to-business. Sites like Expedia (travel) and Greenfingers (gardening) are examples of business-to-consumer vortals. Vortals obtain revenue in a number of ways. Online catalogues are common features, where the different products of different contributors to the vortal are combined in a single catalogue.