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What is Extranet ??
It may sound like a technology
for geeks only. But many people use
extranets every day without
realizing it—to track packaged
goods, order products from their
suppliers or access customer
assistance from other companies. Log
on to the FedEx site to check the
status of that package you sent this
morning, for example, and you've
just used an extranet in one of its
simplest forms. An extranet is a
mechanism based on Internet and Web
technology for communicating both
privately and selectively with your
customers and business partners.
What's the difference between an
extranet, an intranet and the
Internet?
First there was the Internet, which
is available for everyone to use.
Then businesses got smart and
started developing their own
intranets that used the same
friendly Web interface but put up
firewalls (see What is a Firewall?
below) so that only employees could
see the information on the site.
Finally, the extranet was created.
It finds itself somewhere in
between—there's still a firewall,
but you allow only selected
outsiders, such as business partners
and customers, inside.
Why would you use extranets?
When done correctly, extranets
provide a safe way to allow
transactional business-to-business
activities and can save your company
some serious time and money. The
automotive industry uses extranets
to cut down on its redundant
ordering processes and keep
suppliers up to date on parts and
design changes, allowing quicker
response times to suppliers'
problems and questions. Suppliers
can receive proposals, submit bids,
provide documents, even collect
payments through an extranet site.
An extranet has restricted
(password-protected) access, so it
may be connected directly to each
party's internal systems.
Does every company need one?
While other business-to-business
communications, such as electronic
data interchange (EDI) (see What Is
EDI? below), are out there, an
extranet is more user-friendly
because of its Web interface and
allows for less regimented and more
ad-hoc inquiries. Before a company
can make an attempt at harnessing
the capabilities and profits gained
from using an extranet, a fully
functioning intranet has to be in
place.
The benefits of extranets, such as
reduced time to market and cost of
doing business, and faster access to
partner information, may be
outweighed by the costs--security,
Web servers and development, legacy
systems integration, ongoing support
and maintenance. Extranets require a
large amount of IS time and energy,
much more than what it takes to get
an intranet or Web site up and
running, which may place it at the
bottom of the IS group's to-do list.
In time, companies may be forced to
use an extranet with their suppliers
and customers. Even now, some large
corporations say they will not do
business with companies that won't
be connected to a secure extranet in
the coming years
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