Intranet Systems

If your company has an internal network, you could be using this network to provide an Intranet information system. An Intranet is just like the Internet - it allows you to send and receive electronic mail, and publish and read web pages - but the web pages and other information is only accessible from computers on your network.

Note that all the information below is about Intranets - you do not need any kind of Internet connection to do what is described.

Most companies need to distribute information to their staff, even if it is something as simple as a list of staff telephone extension numbers or a price list. The cost and hassle of changing and distributing printed information is high.

Instead, you can deliver your internal information via an Intranet. In the case of a telephone list, this would mean creating a web page showing the list, then placing this page on a computer which can act as a Web Server. This might be an expensive dedicated system, but it can also be any Windows 95 or 98 computer - web server software is available free for Windows computers, and the computer can be used for other office jobs at the same time as it is being a web server.

Whenever your staff need to find a phone number, they just run their web browser, and reach the right page within a couple of mouse clicks.

And whenever the information needs updating, the person responsible just changes the page. From that moment on, everyone who looks at the page sees the new information.

It's easiest to think about an intranet as a private website, which you can use not just for telephone numbers, but for internal newsletters, noticeboards, and all other types of communication. If your company has several offices with connected networks, an Intranet is an especially useful way of cutting the cost of communicating between offices.

An intranet which is accessible from outside the local network is called an Extranet. It is possible to provide client access to your network over a dialup connection, or using the Internet, but the costs of this type of system are quite high, and security may be a problem.

However, if you need to create an Extranet, (for example to allow your customers to place orders directly into your computer system or to access tracking information about shipments) we can advise and help you.