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Library and Information Society

Notes 10. SANJUKTA was designed and implimented by:

(a) S.R. Ranganathan (b) A Mukhopadhyay
(c) Both (a) and (b) (d) None of these.

7.7 Intranet

An intranet is a computer network that uses Internet Protocol technology to securely share any part
of an organization’s information or network operating system within that organization. The term is
used in contrast to internet, a network between organizations, and instead refers to a network within
an organization. Sometimes the term refers only to the organization’s internal website, but may be a
more extensive part of the organization’s information technology infrastructure. It may host multiple
private websites and constitute an important component and focal point of internal communication
and collaboration. Any of the well known Internet protocols may be found in an intranet, such as
HTTP (web services), SMTP (e-mail), and FTP (file transfer protocol). Internet technologies are often
deployed to provide modern interfaces to legacy information systems hosting corporate data.
An intranet can be understood as a private analog of the Internet, or as a private extension of the
Internet confined to an organization.

The first intranet websites and home pages began to appear in organizations in
1996-1997.

Although not officially noted, the term intranet first became common-place among early adopters,
such as universities and technology corporations, in 1992.
Intranets have also contrasted with extranets. While intranets are generally restricted to employees
of the organization, extranets may also be accessed by customers, suppliers, or other approved
parties. Extranets extend a private network onto the Internet with special provisions for
authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA protocol).
In many organizations, intranets are protected from unauthorized external access by means of a
network gateway and firewall. For smaller companies, intranets may be created simply by using
private IP ranges, such as 192.168.*.*. In these cases, the intranet can only be directly accessed from
a computer in the local network; however, companies may provide access to off-site employees by
using a virtual private network. Other security measures may be used, such as user authentication
and encryption.
Alternatively, the intranet domain may be publicly accessible, but users would need to log in before
they could view most of the content.

Uses

Intranets are being used to deliver tools and applications, e.g., collaboration (to facilitate working in
groups and teleconferencing) or sophisticated corporate directories, sales and customer relationship
management tools, project management etc., to advance productivity.
Intranets are also being used as corporate culture-change platforms. For example, large numbers of
employees discussing key issues in an intranet forum application could lead to new ideas in
management, productivity, quality, and other corporate issues.
In large intranets, website traffic is often similar to public website traffic and can be better understood
by using web metrics software to track overall activity. User surveys also improve intranet website

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