Simply put, an intranet application is a small internal website running within a secured business environment. Intranet is basically a network of computers in an organization that is used for sharing of data among the employees. An intranet application is also sometimes referred to as corporate portal or private business network. Depending on the requirements it needs to cater to, the application can be basic in structure or exhaustive with complex interlinks and data exchanges. Stephen Lawton, a technical editor, introduced the term Intranet in 1995.
A typical intranet application works on HTML and TCP/IP, similar to internet. However, the basic difference is that the entire setup runs on LAN (Local Area Network). Intranet application development involves use of hardware with networking capabilities and software technologies that include web servers, browsers, TCP/IP, Ethernet, and WiFi systems. When the organization uses internet on the same network, the application is usually configured behind a firewall through a gateway so that unauthorized access is restricted.
Intranet applications should ideally allow the employees at levels to access required information, take decisions, and perform in an effective manner. Thus, the intranet application development cycle must be carefully planned and accomplished. Following steps can be considered when designing an intranet application.
Define objectives – set the guidelines for which the intranet is being developed and will be used, and so on. Prepare the intranet plan – chart out the structure of the intranet, hardware and software that will be used, number of users and their access rights, nature of the information available on it. Design and implement intranet application – having acquired the necessary resources complete the intranet designing, deployment, and other implementation tasks. Create awareness about the intranet – promote the intranet among the relevant users so that it is effectively used and the set objectives are fulfilled.
There are many advantages of intranet application, foremost being improved productivity and reduced costs.
Faster access to information and updates allows the employees to make quicker decisions and take actions, thus improving the overall productivity of the organization. Intranet applications facilitate accurate flow of targeted information across verticals and horizontals, which could possibly reduce number of emails floating around in an organization. Important policy documents, training materials, company knowledge documents can be maintained on the intranet application and can be accessed from a single source when required. There is no need to maintain physical copies of information or other documents and hence intranet applications prove to be cost effective solutions.
Though intranets offer many advantages, it is required that intranet application development is robust enough to handle multiple users at a time, and at that same time ensure that corporate confidentiality is maintained.
By: Jeff R Smith
Posts Tagged ‘Web Servers’
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Why Computers and Networks?
Computers have become a necessity for all types of working environment. No matter what type of work you are doing, computers can help you in maximizing your work efficiency. Due to this fact computers are being used in all types of offices. Some areas like banking, insurance, stock exchange as well as reservation systems completely rely on use of Computers and Internet.
In a computing environment people need inter connectivity of computers to share resources like (files and data). It further helps in use and management of information collected through various nodes. These kinds of network that is being implemented in a particular organization are known as Intranets. Intranet helps in information sharing between different offices of same organization at different locations. It works on LAN (Local Area Network), MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) or WAN (Wide Area Network). There are mainly three ways of implementing different type of networks – wired, wireless or mixed (wired and wireless both as and when required).
Why Internet?
Internet is information superhighway, one of the major and accurate sources of getting information on any topic quickly. It is also used as backbone for implementing Intranet. Company’s websites and email are completely dependent on Internet. In brief, internet is the most important and fastest medium of communication in current hi-tech world.
Network Related Problems
As an end user you must have experienced various types of problems in your network during your work. Due to network downtime organizations have to bear loss of several productive working hours or in turn loss of revenue. Network downtime for your web servers may result unavailability of your website, in that case your potential viewers may not find required information through your website. It may create a negative impact of your company/organization or business
To deal with such problems immediately organizations need network diagnosis and maintenance experts to fix such problems to further reduce loss of productive working hours. However, it is not possible for every organization to hire a fulltime team of networking experts to solve their network issues. They prefer to rely upon network security consultants, who help them whenever needed. It’s a cost-effective alternative for organizations because they don’t have to hire full time professionals for taking care of their network troubleshooting needs.
By: Dan Stratton
