What are the key characteristics of the internet, intranet and extranet?

Question

I've looked at similar questions and haven't gotten good enough answers for what I need. I know the definition of each of them, but not their key characteristics. Can someone help me out, please?

Answer 1

Since all three use the same technology, you have to start looking at what makes them different. I would say security levels are the major difference.

The Internet is obviously a totally public network relying on the TCP/IP protocol. For the most part all servers are visible and available to all users. Packets of information flow through public routers and may find their way to the destination by several different routes all in the same session. In theory, any packet of information on the Internet can be intercepted and read by anyone with access to a router the data passes through.

Intranets are private networks relying on Internet technology. Companies may set up web servers and only allow them to be visible to workstations within the network. These can be used to supply internal documentation to other employees and are generally designed to provide information on a timely basis when needed. Intranets are often used for employee manuals, training, and distribution of news and memos. Often the documentation takes the form of a Wiki where employees are encouraged to modify and update the information. Since Intranets run on private networks within a company's firewall, security is not a strong concern, except where certain users or departments are granted access to only certain pages or servers.

An extranet is similar to an Intranet, except certain external parties are allowed access to the internal data. This may include third-party product distributors or wholesalers and large clients. Since the Extranet extends beyond the firewall of the company and makes use of the actual Internet to transfer data, there is a higher than normal requirement for security. Extranets may use digital certificates, Virtual Private Networks, passwords and many other combinations of security options to create layers that the average surfer would not be able to crack.

Answer 2

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that interchange data by packet switching using the standardized Internet Protocol (IP) Suite. It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of private and public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope that are linked by copper wires, fiber-optic cables, wireless connections, and other technologies.

The Internet carries various information resources and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer and file sharing, online gaming, and the inter-linked hypertext documents and other resources of the World Wide Web (WWW).

read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet

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An intranet is a private computer network that uses Internet protocols and network connectivity to securely share part of an organization's information or operations with its employees. Sometimes the term refers only to the organization's internal website. The same concepts and technologies of the Internet such as clients and servers running on the Internet protocol suite are used to build an intranet. HTTP and other Internet protocols are commonly used as well, such as FTP. There is often an attempt to use Internet technologies to provide new interfaces with corporate "legacy" data and information systems.

Briefly, an intranet can be understood as "a private version of the Internet," or as a version of the Internet confined to an organization. The term first appeared in print on April 19, 1995, in Digital News & Review in an article authored by technical editor Stephen Lawton [1].An IntranetSite differs from a website in the fact that websites are oriented to public web browsers that do not need be authenticated in order to view the content. The IntranetSite content is private and does require authentication for each web viewer. Some websites require a subscription to access some or all of their content and be cause of the authentication requirement it makes them an IntranetSites or ExtranetSites.

read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intranet

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An extranet is a private network that uses Internet protocols, network connectivity, and possibly the public telecommunication system to securely share part of an organization's information or operations with suppliers, vendors, partners, customers or other businesses. An extranet can be viewed as part of a company's Intranet that is extended to users outside the company (e.g.: normally over the Internet). It has also been described as a "state of mind" in which the Internet is perceived as a way to do business with a preapproved set of other companies business-to-business (B2B), in isolation from all other Internet users. In contrast, business-to-consumer (B2C) involves known server(s) of one or more companies, communicating with previously unknown consumer users.

Briefly, an extranet can be understood as a private intranet mapped onto the Internet or some other transmission system not accessible to the general public, but is managed by more than one company's administrator(s). For example, military networks of different security levels may map onto a common military radio transmission system that never connects to the Internet. Any private network mapped onto a public one is a virtual private network (VPN). In contrast, an intranet is a VPN under the control of a single company's administrator(s).

read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extranet