Intranet, Extranet and Internet: What your company needs to know

intranet, extranet, internet… What is the difference between these concepts? In this article you will find that everything is much simpler than those names suggest.

Intranet, extranet and internet concepts

The best way to understand concepts is to analyze them Individually:

Internet

This is the easiest part. It’s about the global computer network. The Internet can be defined as a conglomerate of local area networks spread around the world, with computers connecting using a specific protocol.

“Computers with Internet access can access websites, send and receive e-mail, and share files and other information with any other computer in the world,” sums up Jan Axelson, author of seven books on technology, including Integrated Ethernet and Internet completed: designing and programming small devices for networking.

Internet, one of the largest technological progress of mankind, it reduces the distance between people and makes situations possible that were unthinkable two decades ago. In other words, “We are all connected to the internet like a neuron in a giant brain,” as English physicist Stephen Hawking famously described it.

eMarketer, a consultancy specializing in global studies of the digital universe, estimates that the half of the world population will have internet access from 2018. At the end of 2014, according to this company, 2.8 billion people were connected to the Internet.

website

The intranet is also a network of computers, but while the internet is open to anyone with the required protocol, an intranet is a space intended for a specific audiencefor distribution of restricted use information.

In this case, the network connects some computers to each other through local servers. no outside access. This modality is used to reduce costs, streamline communications, and provide more security for communications since a user ID and password are required to access the network.

extranet

The extranet has the same function as an intranet, however allows access from the outside, via Internet. Confused? Let’s see: the extranet is still a closed network, limited to a certain group of people, but accessible from anywhere in the world as long as the registered user has an internet connection.

This makes it possible to decentralize and expand the knowledge base. Also in this way facilitates interaction between people of the same group who are separated, using the security offered by an intranet with the freedom of the internet.

Intranet, Extranet and Internet in your company

Internet is the basis of communication today, Allows almost instantaneous transfer of any type of file with distant people.

The intranet, in turn, enables your company to set up its own network internal and secure distribution, which also tends to lower costs. They restrict access and can use other protocols for communication.

Finally, the extranet is useful if you want expand the relationship with customers or if you have a decentralized workforce, with people who work in different regions and need to communicate with each other on a daily basis.