Wednesday, December 6, 2006

The Elements of a Corporate Intranet

Depending on the size and needs of your business, an intranet can consist of little more than email service and file sharing all the way to full-fledged document management and videoconferencing. Regardless, all intranets are made up of the same basic parts:

1. The network:
Modern intranets use a foundation of common Internet technologies, such as point-to-point protocol (PPP) and transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP). If the software you want to use supports these Internet standards, it should work fine on your intranet. Increasingly, intranet applications are designed to be viewed and used through a common Web browser.

2. File sharing:
It´s as simple as it sounds. File sharing lets you store electronic documents in public folders so other people can see them and -- in some cases -- modify them. More advanced intranets let you create folders that can be opened only by certain groups of people, such as members of the accounting or sales departments. While it´s easiest to share files between the same type of computers (PC-to-PC or Mac-to-Mac, for instance), you can buy software that lets dissimilar machines share files as well.

3 Communication:
Email is the most common form of communication on an intranet, but some companies add other options, such as discussion groups accessed via a Web browser, chat clients for instant messaging and even videoconferencing. It´s also possible to run an internal Web server so workers can post personal Web sites for other employees to view.