Internet technology can be used to develop systems that are
restricted to a company’s internal use. That is, such systems can only by
accessed by the computers inside the company’s computer network. The purpose of
such a system, known as an Intranet, is to enhance company operations through improved data access
management.
More precisely, an Intranet is a corporate network
based on Internet technologies that provides access to corporate internal data
and supports the company’s internal operations. All the advantages of the
Internets are replicated in an Intranet. Therefore, Intranets, using internal Webs,
provide a platform for the development of new systems in a timely and
cost-efficient manner. These new Web-based systems streamline company
operations by facilitating the creation, collection, and distribution of
information used for decision-making at all levels in the organization.
Like the Internet’s Web pages, the Intranet Web pages may be
static or dynamic. And, like the Internet, the Intranet’s Web server and the
Web client communicate through the HTTP protocol. In turn, HTTP uses the
Internet standard TCP/IP network protocol to transfer data between client and
server computers. In short, all the services provided by the Intranet system
are integrated at the client's end under the browser. The end-user does not
care or know about all the different applications running on the server side.
Think of an Intranet as a locally owned and operated Internet whose access is
carefully controlled.
Because Intranets are not meant to be used by the general
public, they normally reside behind a corporate firewall. A firewall is a software component that limits and controls the data
traffic into the company’s database or the data that are allowed to move
outside the company’s boundaries.
The Intranet’s business use may be extended through its latest
variant, known as the Extranet. The Extranet extends the use of the Intranet to the corporation’s value
chain. For example, a large retailer may use an Extranet to extend the internal
product and ordering information to its suppliers and distributors, thereby
helping to automate its supplier and distributor functions. In short, the
existence of such an Extranet enhances the intra-business process workflow.
One of the very important advantages of Intranets is that they
are relatively easy to setup and to implement at the technical level. However,
once implemented, Intranet services tend to grow exponentially. This is especially
true if we take in consideration that most Intranets tend to start as
"departmentalized" services created as a way to rapidly react to
end-user needs. In these systems, end-users are in charge of developing Web
pages to add to the contents of the Intranet.
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