Unleashing the Intranet

Abstract

Many people have heard of or used the Internet. An intranet is nothing more complicated than an internal network which makes use of Internet technologies based on TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internet protocol). Originally attributed to the Wall Street Journal back in November 1995, who coined the term, intranets have now become a major sales sector in their own right. Zona Research of Redwood, California assessed the intranet market to be worth $476 million in 1995 and predicted it would reach $4 billion by the end of 1997. They revised their predictions and announced sales of $6 billion for intranets, $500 million more than for the Internet [1]. Essentially all that is required for a simple intranet is a network running the TCP/IP stack with a webserver generating the information content and a Web browser client. In order to separate this from the Internet, security is needed in firewalls (see Chapter 9), creating an enclosed area which allows users to interact with each other and to access the Internet if allowed, while keeping potential intruders out.