INTRANETS AND EXTRANETS

An intranet is an organizations internal network that uses the TCP/IP

protocols of the Internet. Generally, only authorized parties, such as the
organization's employees, have access to an organizations intranet. The
intranet is used to store internal information, such as files, databases,
policies and procedures. This information can be available through internal
Web sites, which are similar to regular World Wide Web sites, but can be
accessed only by authorized users.
An extranet is an intranet that is also accessible by authorized external
parties who are not members or employees of the organization. An extranet
provides multiple levels of access. For example, members or employees might
have unrestricted access to information on the extranet, whereas customers
or vendors might have access to a limited subset of that information.
Extranets help enhance business communication because they enable
integration across organizations. For example, a manufacturing company
can have direct access to the inventory database of its vendors through the
vendors extranets. The manufacturing company can then use that
information to place orders without first having to communicate with a sales
person, speeding delivery for the finished product and potentially increasing
sales.
Intranets and extranet are two distinctly different things, and both can be
highly beneficial to business in practically any industry. Once integrated
into a business model these portals can make day to day activities far easier
and more stremelined than it might otherwise be