Intranet |
Intranet is a TCP/IP based network, which is used within an organization or a corporate house allowing the internal public, i.e. the employees, members and other affiliated set of clients to access its private computer network. The important data and information is secured by using network connectivity, Internet protocols and sometimes the public telecommunication system. Firewall makes sure that only authorized navigation is possible.
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Difference with the Internet
The World Wide Web, which is an unstructured client/server network, uses HTTP as the protocol of transaction. The HTTP nodes of the Web are shared on the public network, whereas the same are shared on the LAN (local area network) or WAN (wide area network) of an enterprise's private network (corporate web). Technologies such as servers, clients etc. that are common in case of the Internet, are used to set up an intranet. Intranet is more like an `internal website' and is often referred to a service that is most visible within the organization.
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Extranet
An extranet refers to that part of an organization's intranet, which has been extended to the external public for viewing over the Internet. Extranet is meant for supplier/customer exclusive contents and intranet is meant for contents that are exclusive to employees.
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Use of Intranet
Intranets can be used for the following purposes:
. Product/service information
· Project information
. Employee newsletters
. Technology support
. Tutorials
. Newswire clippings
. Internal information libraries
. Organization phone directory
. Performance tracking
. Whiteboarding
. Official travel guide
. Maps
. Sales figures by unit
. Job notices
. Internal product demos
. Conferencing
. Employee benefits information
. Surveillance
. Access to the organization's data warehouse
. Stock quote
. Software libraries
. Competitive analysis
. Sales support
. Subscription services
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Advantages
. Technologically less expensive
. Increases workforce's productivity
. Communication made easier within the organization
. Helps in web publishing
. Fast access to information
. Available 24 hours a day
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Disadvantages
. Security threats
. Abuse of intranet
. Can result in `information overload'
. Control over the content may get beyond management's control
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Successful Intranet Users
. Ford Motor Co.
. AT&T
. Levi Strauss
. Cisco Systems
. Compaq Computer Corp.
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Allwonderscomputers provides everything you wanted to know about the Intranet.
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