Hey, do you know what is an intranet, and what is the difference between internet and intranet?

Well, no need to worry if you don’t have any knowledge in this regard.

In this article you will get what you are looking for and all you need to know.

What is the Definition of the Intranet?

A private network using some technologies which are accessible to only an organization staff.

It was established using the techniques of WAN (wide area network) and LAN ( local area network).

It requires authentication to access and is thus protected from unauthenticated access.

What is an Intranet Used For?

• It is used to share the information of an organization among its staff. Thus used for internal communication
• used for meeting and discussion.
• It can be used to publish some important announcements.
• Mostly used by HR departments ads system administrators of organizations.
• Time-saving and cost were beneficial also.
• You can get access to immediate updates easily.

History of the Web:

• History of the internet starts with the invention of electronic computers. Computers were developed in 1950.
• Then in 1960 networking protocols were introduced.
• Then ARPANET was launched.
• Donald Davies was the guy behind the invention of a packet switched network.
• Arpanet was accessible to people by the end of 1980, and then TCP/IP came into action in 1982.
• Then in 1989 a great man Tim Berners-Lee introduced WWW.

Definition of the Internet:

It is a network of computers that are connected.

It is the thing that brought human form old age to this era of technology.

How Does the Internet Work?

An IP address has numbers from 0 to 255.

When you connect to it through an ISP, you use an IP address for that duration.

To check that whether your computer is alive online or not, you may use the ping command.

The message you send online is converted into electronic signals.

The protocol used is TCP/IP.  There are many large networks which serve as a backbone to it.

Who Invented the World Wide Web?

• WWW was invented by a great man Tim Berner Lee in 1989.
• He was the guy with the great mind who wrote the first computer program in 1990.
• Tim Berner Lee was born in London and was a British scientist.
• He graduated from Oxford University.

World Wide Web Definition:

WWW is an information space where the web resources can be accessed by their URL.

It is used by people to communicate online and allows you to get into the sea of information online to take benefits from the resources.

This global source of data and information helps us in our daily life tasks.

The Internet vs. World Wide Web:

You will be wrong if you consider WWW as a synonym for the internet.

It is its subset and is a source of sharing information online. It works as a medium. Information is made accessible through different browsers.

How Does the World Wide Web Work?

• You can view a page on WWW just by typing in its URL.
• When you type the URL, your browser converts that into an IP address using the DNS (Domain Name System).
• The browser then sends an HTTP request.
• The port used by HTTP Protocol is mostly 80.

Have a look at the infographic about the working of DNS server.

What is Extranet?

A network that is accessible to the people outside the organization but is not available to the public.

It grants access to people outside a company without allowing the staff of its company to see it.

This information is hidden from the public.

You can access it only if you have the required username and password. It is quite expensive to implement

What is Extranet Used For?

• Used to connect and communicate with other companies.
• It allows vendors, customers to gain information about a company and are used to exchange a large volume of data.
• Helpful in sharing data with the business partners.
• It is also used in discussion forums online. Here people may give their suggestions.

What is the Difference Between the Internet, Intranet, and Extranet?

The Internet vs. Intranet:

Following are some of the point that shows the difference between the two.

• The internet is a public area while intranet is a private connection.
• Passwords may protect intranet.
• You can access the intranet from the internet.
• Within a company, the server of intranet will respond more quickly than that of the web because the web server has many things on it.
• The number of users on the intranet is limited whereas there is no such condition for internet users.
• The traffic of intranet is limited also while there is no restriction on internet traffic
• Intranet contains limited information. It includes information related to a particular organization only whereas the web is an ocean of information.
• The Internet is not much secure as compared to the intranet. This issue is because intranet is accessible to limited people thus there are fewer chances of security threats on it.

Extranet and Internet:

This concept is quite easy to understand; the Internet is available to everyone and is used by people on a daily basis.

It has become a part of our everyday lives.

A person that is connected to it can get access to public information about anyone in the world. While extra-net is available to people outside the organization (for example vendors).

An extra-net is connected to the internet and is not much secured.

Extranet vs. Intranet:

So now you are confused between these two terms.

They are not so difficult to understand as you think.

Let me make the concepts clear for you.

• An extranet is used to exchange information between organizations whereas the Internet is used to communicate within a team. It is used to describe to the staff of an agency.
• It is enabled through a VPN whereas intranet is made accessible by the system administrator.

Virtual Private Network (VPN):

• It spreads out a private network along a public network.
• It is used to communicate securely.
• Online users can easily secure their online transactions through VPN.
• It can be established by using dedicated connections.
• It is made by building a virtual connection.

We can classify such a system by the security level and some other factors.

Final Words:

By now you would have understood what intranet is and what does intranet mean.

Thus the internet is benefiting us in every category, whether it be extra-net or intranet advantages of the web are uncountable.

Its history is marvelous.

The intranet is making communication much more comfortable, simpler and cheaper.

For a business to grow, the correct use of these technologies is entirely necessary.

Also checkout, How to Get Free Internet Without Data Plan?