Re: Intranet Definition

[Keith Soltys <ksoltys -at- DJTTD -dot- COM>]

On Tue, 22 Oct 1996 12:37:00 -0700, you wrote:

>A little while ago, there was some discussion of intranets on this list
>and I thought I understood the definition.  However, on attempting to
>use the word in a document, I decided it still isn't clear to me.  Is
>intranet just a new word for WAN?  What's the diff?


I think the most common usage is for an internal network based on TCP/IP and
using Internet software, possibly, but not necessarily connected to the
Internet. For example, my department has several web severs linked together
beind our firewall. We can get out on the net, and other Dow Jones Telerate
sites can get to our servers via the public internet connection, but the
firewall blocks all public (i.e, not from Dow Jones Telerate) access. We use
standard Internet browsers, mail, and news software.

The intranet mahcines are not connected to our departmental Novell network
and I don't consider them to be part of the intranet. Nor would I consider
our corporate WAN network to be part of our intranet, even though some of it
uses TCP/IP, because  it isn't connected to our departmental web servers or
to the Internet.

From my point of view, an intranet is just a smaller verion of the Internet
that is limited to a department or a corporation.

Regards
Keith





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    Keith Soltys   --  ksoltys -at- djttd -dot- com --  http://www.io.org/~ksoltys/
   Technical Writer, Technical Development, Dow Jones Telerate Canada Inc.
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