Your Own Private Internet (With Optional VIP Access)

In the world outside your office, the internet is facilitating the sending and receiving of terabytes of essential data every second. One effect of the ubiquity of the internet is that there are thousands of developers writing programs to make key activities simpler, quicker and more efficient. By networking your office, branches, suppliers and clients together using an intranet or and extranet, you can take advantage of new advancements as they happen and run them on a solid, dependable base.

Intranet and Extranet Defined

Intranets use the same technologies and protocols (such as HTTP, PHP, FTP and SMTP) that make the internet as you know it work. That means you can use browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari etc.) and email clients (Outlook etc.) but also all the technologies you use on the web, whether you’re aware of them or not. Databases, file sharing, conferencing, image viewers … if you can use it online, you can use it on an intranet. The only difference is that it’s enclosed within your company’s walls, be it single site or multinational. Of course, your staff can still access the net, but all communications will pass through a secured gateway. The extranet is similar, but uses the internet’s physical connections to allow people from outside the organization (for example suppliers, contractors, clients and home workers as well as those working abroad at a conference, for example) to access the intranet securely once they have been given authorization. It is still separated from the rest of the internet.

How You Can Benefit from an Intranet or Extranet

Because much of the technology is already out there – and often open source – the development costs of installing an intranet or extranet are small compared to other internal networks. And as your staff are already familiar with the software and your IT people will know the protocols, the need for specific training is reduced. And as new technologies are developed to work online, you can slot them into your system seamlessly. Would your organization benefit? Talk to Koves and we’ll have a look at your current operations and future aims; there’s a good chance that this could be the solution for your internal collaboration and communication efforts need.