Difference Between The Internets And The Intranet example essay topic

The purpose of this paper is to explain the difference between the Internets and the intranet and how tools effectively increased their communication capabilities. The Internet and an intranet are similar in the fact that they can establish communication with a server anywhere instantly. The primary difference between the two are while the Internet can be accessed by the public the intranet is a form of communication that exists within the boundaries of a business and is accessed only by the company, its employees and any authorized users. This has been found to be a very effective form of communication when linking teams and employees that are located in different locales across the globe to share information. The case study in our text refers to the intranet operations of tools. By putting dealers directly in touch with one another, the company believed it could improve everyone's business success.

(Senn, 137) The first question deals with the types of information that can be delivered across the intranet as opposed to printed brochures and reports. Taking into account the security risk factor and the extreme cost of printing these documents, the intranet allows to deliver with minimal cost and high security: information on products and services that could be valuable to dealers and even more valuable to competitors, tips for franchise management including online training, updates on sales and marketing, forums and discussion groups where dealers all across the country can share ideas, news and special information to aid in advertising. All of these examples can be turned into brochures and reports but the cost of printing, the cost of design, and the man-hours to assemble and disseminate all of this information to the four corners of the world would be expensive. Not to mention the security aspects of having all their trade secrets easily accessible to any would be competitors.

The second question deals with feelings I would have regarding the use of an intranet to disseminate important sales- and product-related information. I feel that with the proper use of a good firewall and that if the network security was set in place I would be comfortable with distributing this information. A good solid company will invest strongly in obtaining a solid security system / firewall. In any case high security systems tend to keep honest people honest. If indeed security was a factor and a competitor / saboteur wanted to infiltrate or corrupt any information, there are many more ways than I know of to partake in that process. Thirdly, the last question deals with the benefits of the Internet that prompted Snap-on to introduce an intranet route of communications link to each of its dealers.

Convenient instantaneous information that is accessible from virtually anywhere at a low cost and high security is the prime benefit. An intranet provides almost instantaneous information, depending on the speed of the network. Dealers can take advantage of newer and faster technologies such as ISDN or DSL that will increase accessibility speed of their normal dial-up access many folds, which will allow for instantaneous information. Because of the use of dial-up access, dealers can access the intranet from virtually anywhere; their homes, their shops, on the road with cell phones, bus stations, airplanes, and even from the customer's place of business as long as the dial-up is toll-free.

Now that does not need to buy bales of paper, print thousands of brochures and reports, spend thousands on postage, hire an advertising agency, and have a full on mail department, they can hire a couple of college freshman to develop the websites, load the databases, maintain the servers, and program the routers all for the cost of college tuition. A Certified Network Associate / Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer that has a strong background in networking could maintain the security for the network and supervise the freshmen pre-graduates. All the while, this move to an intranet has saved Snap-on tools thousands, possibly millions of dollars in revenue. The major differences between the Internet and an intranet seem to be very minimal in the aspect that they are virtually the same, just with different accessibility options. Intranets tend to be more secure because those who need it internally covet them.

The Internet can be accessed from an Intranet with the use of Proxy servers and password authentication. Typically an intranet cannot be accessed from the Internet similarly for the reason that you would let everyone out of your house, but you really don't want to let everyone in.