Extranet

From Free net encyclopedia

An extranet is a private network that uses Internet protocols, network connectivity, and possibly the public telecommunication system to securely share part of a business's information or operations with suppliers, vendors, partners, customers or other businesses. An extranet can be viewed as part of a company's Intranet that is extended to users outside the company (eg: normally over the Internet). It has also been described as a "state of mind" in which the Internet is perceived as a way to do business with other companies as well as to sell products to customers.

An argument has been made that "extranet" is just a buzzword for describing what institutions have been doing for decades, that is, interconnecting to each other to create private networks for sharing information.

Other very common use of the term "extranet" is to design the "private part" of a website, where "registered on site people" can navigate. The "login page" and the authentication mechanisms enable them.

1 Security
2 Industry uses
3 References
4 External links
- 4.1 Examples of extranet products
5 See also

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Security

An extranet requires security and privacy. These can include firewalls, server management, the issuance and use of digital certificates or similar means of user authentication, encryption of messages, and the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) that tunnel through the public network.

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Industry uses

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, several industries started to use the term "extranet" to describe central repositories of shared data made accessible via the web only to authorised members of particular work groups.

For example, in the construction industry, project teams could login to and access a 'project extranet' to share drawings and documents, make comments, issue requests for information, etc. In 2003 in the United Kingdom, several of the leading vendors formed the Network of Construction Collaboration Technology Providers, or NCCTP, to promote the technologies and to establish data exchange standards between the different systems. The same type of construction-focused technologies have also been developed in the United States, Australia, Scandinavia, Germany and Belgium, among others. Some applications are offered on a Software as a Service (SaaS) basis by vendors functioning as Application service providers (ASPs).

Specially secured extranets are used to provide virtual data room services to companies in several sectors (including law and accountancy).

There are a variety of commercial extranet applications, some of which are for pure file management, and others which include broader collaboration and project management tools.

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