What a difference four letters make ! Intranet is n’t just a misspelling of Internet . According to theMerriam - Websteronline dictionary , the prefix " intra- " is Latin for " within . " Which makes sense because an intranet works incisively like the Internet , except it ’s a mesh confined within a company , school , government or organization .
For example , HowStuffWorks.com is a Web land site host by a Web server connected to the Internet . Anyone in the world with Internet access can visit HowStuffWorks.com and read articles like this one .
Let ’s pretend that the employee of HowStuffWorks expend another Web internet site called HSWIntranet.com to post events on a community of interests calendar , show messages from founder Marshall Brain and get to the company earpiece directory . HSWIntranet is hosted on a Web host located in the HowStuffWorks military headquarters in Atlanta and is link up only to the society ’s local area web ( LAN ) . Only employees connected to the LAN via a special meshwork password can get at the company intranet . HSWIntranet.com is n’t an Internet site ; it ’s an intranet situation .
Both the Internet and an intranet operate over a communications standard called TCP / IP ( transmission control communications protocol / net communications protocol ) that connects host to user over a meshwork . Both the Internet and an intranet use World Wide Web pages to display information on user ' computers . Therefore , they both use Web programming language like HTML , Java , Flash and XML to build Web pages with text , images , audio recording and telecasting .
Some company and establishment provide business partners and clients to access their intranet sites from remote locations outside of the company LAN . These extension of the intranet are calledextranets .
In this HowStuffWorks article , we ’ll go over the principal advantages of using an intranet , in particular for minor and large businesses . Then we ’ll explain how to plan and develop an intranet . And finally we ’ll render the proficient specs for setting up an intranet .
Let ’s start with the advantage of using an intranet .
Intranet Benefits
The main advantage of using an intranet for a minor or large stage business is that they ’re cheap to go through and run , greatly increase the homecoming on investing ( ROI ) [ generator : Net Access ] . In the modern office , most computers are already equipped to connect to the Internet and browse the Web . With an intranet , there ’s no need to buy unexampled equipment for the last user or significantly reconstitute the corporate connection . The only thing that take to be purchased and configured is a Web host ( computer hardware and software package ) to host the intranet . And the most democratic vane server package , Apache , is free .
Another benefit of using an intranet is improved data sharing and collaboration across an organization [ source : Digital Web Magazine ] . lease ’s use the good example of a sales agreement section in a software company . alternatively of each salesman maintaining his ownsales leadlists and saving them on his own computer , all sales leads can be posted and cross on a central Web web site on the corporate intranet [ source : Intranet Roadmap ] . salesman can post and share product delivery scripts , breeding video recording and industriousness reports . rather of broadcast hundreds of unlike group e - mails , all of the selective information lives at one key locating . This save time , which in turn preserve money .
Intranets become even more powerful when they ’re linked to collective databases . on the spur of the moment , all of the information on the collective connection is searchable and accessible through a simple vane user interface . This can be another money saver for a fellowship . Instead of corrupt and licensing computer software for each and every desktop in the position , the company can switch to Web - based applications that are access through a Web web internet browser [ root : Devware].Peoplesoftis a Web - based software that can be hosted on a corporate intranet . Human imagination can maintain employee record and client service repp can track help asking all through an intranet Web website .
Another financial benefit of intranet is that they ’re scaleable and pliant [ origin : Intranet Roadmap ] . A small party can ferment a childlike desktop microcomputer into a Web server , build up some canonic hypertext mark-up language entanglement pages and be up and move at practically no extra cost . As the company grows , it can invest in a more full-bodied Web host , hire a Web developer to contrive more dynamical intranet WWW pages and make more and more information and software usable online .
For companies that also keep well - trafficked , dynamic Internet Web site , the corporal intranet Web web site can be a home to prove out new ideas and emerging connection 2.0 features [ source : Information Week ] . Maybe a companionship is toying with the idea of launching its ownonline societal networkor Internet television duct . All of the technical oddity and usability issues can be work out on the in - house intranet site so that everything runs smoothly when the new feature are unveil to the world .
Now that we ’ve cover some of the advantages of using an intranet , let ’s talk about how an organization plans for and develops its intranet .
Intranet Development
When plan an intranet , the most important matter is that somebody needs to be in electric charge [ source : Intranet Roadmap ] . Depending on the organization ’s size of it , this could be one employee or a squad of employees . This person or intranet team will determine what mental object is published on the intranet and what technology will be used in the process .
Once the intranet squad is assembled , they have to pose down and consider many important questions that will dictate the size of it , monetary value and functionality of the intranet . Here are some general consideration when plan an intranet :
[ source : Intranet RoadmapandHomeWorlds ] .
To get the intranet off the ground , the intranet team will have to call several technical considerations as well . Here are a few introductory technological questions that need to be answered during the planning phase :
[ sources : Intranet RoadmapandIntranet Concepts ] .
After answering all of these authoritative doubt , the intranet team want to come up with a advise budget to be gift to the executives in charge . In larger establishment , these would be the master proficient police officer ( CTO ) and/or chief data officeholder ( CIO ) . Cost projections for the following item should be include in the intranet budget :
[ source : Intranet Roadmap ] .
Once the budget is approved , you ’re ready to mark up your intranet . In the next section , we ’ll go over the technological basic principle of rig up a good and effective intranet .
Setting up an Intranet
Setting up a secure and reliable intranet requires these constituent :
[ source : University of South Carolina School of Library and Information Sciences ] .
A vane server is two affair : hardware and software system . The hardware you use for an intranet entanglement host depend on the intranet ’s size , the mental object to be write and the number of people get to the intranet at any give time .
For example , if your intranet is text - only entanglement pages being access by five mass , you do n’t need a powerful automobile run your waiter software . If you ’re going to use your intranet to host cyclosis picture to be accessed by thousands of employee at once , then you ’ll need a large , dedicated server or cluster of servers with substantial bandwidth .
The waiter software handles all requests for files host on the server , finds the data file and get off it off to the good computer . The most popular World Wide Web host package , Apache , is costless . The second most popular World Wide Web host software package isMicrosoft Internet Information Server .
As for establish and configuring the connection server in a connection , a troupe must first consider how critical the intranet will be for day - to - day trading operations . The more the intranet is used for " core commercial enterprise processes , " the more redundance needs to be built into the system [ source : Intranet Journal ] .
In establishment where the intranet is a low - precedency software , it ’s all right to befuddle everything in the same corner : World Wide Web host , databases , diligence and Web pageboy depicted object [ generator : Intranet Journal ] . In companies where employee bank more heavy on the intranet for entanglement - establish business covering , it ’s smart to employ a backup server or even a networked waiter clump that share obligation . In those cases , it ’s also smart to host databases on disjoined machines so that if one host goes down , the balance can still get at the database [ source : Intranet Journal ] .
For employees to get at the intranet , their computers need to be connected to the organisation ’s local domain web ( LAN ) . These computer also need to have Web web web browser software like Internet Explorer , Firefox or Safari .
Firewall ironware and software both accomplish the same thing – they ’re the ostiary . Firewalls remain firm between the out-of-door net and the corporate intranet , monitoring all incoming and outgoing data packet for unauthorized or suspicious request [ source : Vicomsoft ] . A firewall is essential for intranet surety , particularly if the intranet admit extranet extensions or appropriate distant login from exterior of the corporate LAN [ source : Intranet Journal ] .
For produce , publishing and managing the content on the intranet , most company apply a content direction scheme ( CMS ) , a web - based covering that makes it easy to create standardized WWW content without having to know hypertext markup language or other programming speech [ rootage : KM Column ] . The CMS can be host on the Web server or on a disjoined applications waiter .
Other software can be loaded onto the intranet WWW server or applications server as the company sees set . This may admit a Web - basedconferencingapplication , a undertaking management tool or a comprehensive CRM tool likeSAPor PeopleSoft .
Now let ’s take a look at the future of intranets .
The Future of Intranets
Intranet trend watch nearly on the heels of the latest net movement . The braggy net cant right now is Web 2.0 . Web 2.0 is all about social media and user - yield depicted object as oppose to the atmospheric static , read - only nature of World Wide Web 1.0 .
Many of the most traffic World Wide Web sites are fueled by Web 2.0 rule . It explicate the blowup of web log , the pre - preeminence of Wikipedia and the frightful popularity ofonline social networkingsites like MySpace , Facebook and LinkedIn .
Corporate intranet are getting an upgrade now thatNet generation studentsare entering the workplace . The Net Generation mature up in a world steeped in communications technology . Many of them do n’t think of life-time before they had a MySpace account , and they ’d be fall back without their cell phone .
Only of late have businesses woken up to the necessity of so - calledintranet 2.0to attract and wield gifted young employees . According to a late study of main selective information officers , only 18 percent of American businesses host blog on their intranet and only 13 per centum have launched corporal Wikis . However , 40 per centum said they have such programme in the development and testing stage [ source : Prescient Digital ] .
Corporate intranet will take on increasing grandness as more and more businesses turn to Web - based applications to manage core commercial enterprise arrangement like SAP and PeopleSoft . Companies are watch that on - demand Web service are cheaper to maintain and gentle to use than hosting software on their own systems . All of these connection - free-base applications can be bundle into the corporate intranet where they can be access securely with one meshwork password .
For more information about intranet and related topics , check out the links on the next varlet .
