Intranet-systems

Intranet-systems are information systems based on Internet technologies and aimed to support company business processes. The word Intranet comes from English language and means internal network.

Intranet – is the entire network based on TCP/IP. The appearance of Intranet-systems was caused by extensive proliferation of Internet technologies usage in day-to-day companies’ operational work. The employees of vast majority of companies had gained skills how to use browsers, search engines, e-Mail and etc. This caused the appearance of the idea to create internal company networks basing on Internet technologies. Comparing Intranet with the previous networking technologies it is not difficult to notice that it has a whole set of advantages:

• There is no need to purchase new software. The employees may use the same software programs both in the Internet and in the Intranet;
• It is not required to use specific software solutions to connect computers based on different platforms and operation systems as Internet technologies used in Intranet are platform-independent;
• The usage of Intranet provides an opportunity to automate updating processes, for instance to update service documentation by placing the modified documentation on Intranet entire Web-server;
• The usage of Intranet provides an opportunity to organize monitoring services – for instance to create easily the statistics of employees addressing Webserver to get updated documentation;
• The usage of Intranet provides an opportunity to use computer multimedia services;
• The process of getting access to data bases is simplified, as no specific software solutions are required. The employee may use a browser to gain access to the necessary database;
• The employees are granted with an opportunity to get access to company confidential information.

The employees being away on business may use databases of the company remotely if they have passwords to access the network. Intranets simply cannot be found by Internet users with the help of usual Internet tools and services (Search engines and others). Although Intranets are not available for external users the employees being in the Intranet have access to the Internet.

Intranet has lots in common with the Internet, but it is accessible only for the entire users of the company. Companies may use Intranet to provide quickly and effectively all or some groups of employees with the updated information from multiple company departments. The same way company personnel may get reports and documents for public access.

ИIntranet is an information environment based on Web technologies used by personnel for company needs. In fact Intranet may be considered as a consistent company information infrastructure which includes workflow tools and services. Intranet is to be provided with sophisticated data protection system including unauthorized access preventive tools and access control techniques granting access to different groups of users.