The Internet, Intranets, and Extranets

Text book : E-commerce by C.S.V.Murthy – Himalaya

Publishing

The Internet:

Text book : E-commerce by C.S.V.Murthy – Himalaya Publishing –

Page numbers from 320 to 349

 The internet

 A network of networks

 The internet transmits data from one computer (called a host)

to another

 Internet networks

 Linked networks that work much the same way -- they pass
data around in packets, each of which carries the addresses of
its sender and receiver

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Internet ‘Discussion’ (1):

A global network connecting millions of computers. As of 1999, the

Internet has more than 200 million users worldwide, and that number is
growing rapidly. More than 100 countries are linked into exchanges of
data, news and opinions. Unlike online services, which are centrally
controlled, the Internet is decentralized by design. Each Internet
computer, called a host, is independent. Its operators can choose which
Internet services to use and which local services to make available to the
global Internet community. Remarkably, this anarchy by design works
exceedingly well.

There are a variety of ways to access the Internet. Most online services,
such as America Online, offer access to some Internet services. It is also
possible to gain access through a commercial Internet Service Provider
(ISP).

Note: York University’s CCS (Computer and Communications Services) is

an ISP.

How the Internet Works:

 Transport control protocol (TCP)

 A protocol that operates at the transport layer and is used in

combination with IP by most Internet applications

 Backbone

 An Internet high-speed, long distance communications links

(like a bus; wire that connects nodes)

 Uniform resource locator (URL)

 An assigned address on the Internet for each computer

 E.g., http://www.yorku.ca/

Domain Affiliations:

Domain Affiliations
arts cultural and entertainment activities
com business organizations

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edu educational sites
firm businesses and firms
gov government sites
info information service providers
mil military sites
nom individuals
net networking organizations
org organizations
rec recreational activities
store businesses offering goods for purchase
web entities related to World Wide Web activities
net networking organizations

Access to the Internet:

 LAN servers

• Local servers can provide access to the Internet through

normal connections (e.g., Ethernet)

 Serial line internet protocol (SLIP) and

Point-to-point protocol (PPP)

• Communications protocol software that transmits

packets over telephone lines, allowing dial-up access to
the Internet

 Connection via an on-line service

• Examples are America Online and Microsoft Network.

These services usually require sign-up procedures

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Three Ways to Access the Internet:

Internet Service Providers:

 Internet service provider (ISP)

 Any company that provides individuals or companies with

access to the Internet

 Thousands of providers including large communications

companies

 Need an account with the ISP and software that links with
TCP/IP

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 ISP Examples:

Internet Service Provider Web Address

AT&T WorldNet Service www.att.com

Digex, Inc. www.digex.net

GTE Internetworking www.gte.net

IBM Internet Connection www.ibm.net

MCI Internet www.mci2000.com

NetCom On-Line Communication Services www.netcom.com

PSINet, Inc. www.psinet.com

Sprint Internet Services www.sprint.net

Uunet Technologies, Inc. www.us.uu.net

Internet Services/Applications:

 E-Mail

 Telnet

 File Transfer Protocol

 Voice Mail

 Chat rooms

 Internet phone

 Internet videoconferencing

 News groups

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 Internet Services:

Internet telephony

 Also called voice-over-IP (VOIP)

• Technology that enables network managers to route

phone calls and fax transmissions over the same
network they use for data

VOIP ‘Discussion’:

Internet telephony is a category of hardware and software that

enables people to use the Internet as the transmission medium for
telephone calls. For users who have free, or fixed-price, Internet
access, Internet telephony software essentially provides free
telephone calls anywhere in the world. To date, however, Internet
telephony does not offer the same quality of telephone service as
direct telephone connections.

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 There are many Internet telephony applications available. Some,
like CoolTalk and NetMeeting, come bundled with popular Web
browsers. Others are stand-alone products. Internet telephony
products are sometimes called IP telephony, Voice over the Internet
(VOI) or Voice over IP (VOIP) products.

The World Wide Web:

 World Wide Web

• A collection of tens of thousands of independently-

owned computers that work together as one in an
Internet service

WWW Terminology:

 Home page

• The cover page for a Web site that has graphics, titles,
coloured text, etc.

 Hypermedia

• Tools that connect the data on Web pages, allowing

users to access topics in whatever order they wish

 Hypertext markup language (HTML)

• The standard page description language for Web pages

Some Interesting Web Sites:

Library of Congress http://lcweb.loc.gov

PointCast http://www.pointcast.com

In-Box Direct http://www.netscape.com

Online Career Center http://occ.com

New York Times http://www.nytimes.com

Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org

Sportsline USA http://www.sportsline.com

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 White House http://www.whitehouse.gov

MIT Lab for Computer Science http://www.lcs.mit.edu

The Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com

WWW Terminology:

 Web browser

• Software that creates a unique hypermedia-based menu

on your computer screen and provides a graphical
interface to the Web

 Web page

• A screen of information sent to a requesting user and

presented through a browser

 Applet

• A small program embedded in Web pages

HTML:

 “The” language of WWW pages

 Need we say more!!!

Search Engines:

 Search engines

 A search tool for the Web (like card catalogs in libraries)

 E.g., Altavista http://www.altavista.digital.com

 Excite http://www.excite.com

 Galaxy http://www.einet.net

 Hotbot http://www.hotbot.com

 Infoseek http://www.infoseek.com

 Lycos http://www.lycos.com

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  Webcrawler http://www.webcrawler.com

 Yahoo! http://www.yahoo.com

Java:

 Java

 An object-oriented programming language

 Developed by Sun Microsystems

 Based on C++

 Allows small programs -- applets -- to be embedded within an

HTML document

Applets:

 Applets are small java programs that are downloaded from the
server to the local machine

Intranet and Extranet

Text book : E-commerce by C.S.V.Murthy – Himalaya Publishing –

Page numbers from 554 to 573

 Intranet

 A private TCP/IP network, often found in corporations.

Typically protected from the Internet by a firewall.

 Extranet:

 A network connecting an organization with its trading

partners, suppliers, and customers.

 Extranet provides an exterior boundary that protects the

organizations from the open network, while providing low
security boundaries for greater sharing of information among
the partners.

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 Extranet

Logistics
Suppliers Distributors
Enterprise Provider
• Knowledge
Management
Financial
• Internal
Srvices Communication
• Project
Intranet Management
Internet

Electronic Business Customer Information

Storefront Intelligence Services Dissemination

Intranet applications:

 Technology-driven marketing

 Logistics and supply chain management

 Finance and accounting

 Human resources

 Decision support/workflow management

Intranet Benefits and Drawbacks:

 Benefits

 Publishing ease

 Cost

 Ease of use

 Low maintenance

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  Scalability

 Easy software distribution

 Drawbacks

 Collaborative applications for Intranets are not as powerful as

those offered by traditional groupware.

 Short-term risk.

 Less back-end integration.

Why Extranet?

 Leverage existing investment in technology since most companies

already have their documents online and Internet access.

 Extranet applications developed to Internet standards are virtually

guaranteed to work with Web browsers

 Extranet applications can be customized to individual partners.

Furthermore, the applications are accessible on a 24-hour basis,
improving customer satisfaction.

 Issues:

 Security and access privileges

 Web site management and maintenance

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Extranet Components;

 Extranet servers—house the tools required for a Web presence,

including:

 Security and access control

 Transaction management

 Site operations

 Extensible and scalable architecture

 Site operations and hosting

 Multiple platform compatibility

 Extranet applications—business applications that allow people to

communicate, exchange files, purchase goods or services, conduct
info searches, monitor business details, etc.

 Interface layers—bridges between system software and graphical

user presentation .

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Extranet-enabled Strategies:

 Information sharing

 improving coordination between business activities.

 Content providers

 allowing strategic partner-suppliers to provide up-to-date

content.

 Revenue generator

 offering new online products and services.

 Improved customer service

 providing customers with useful production information and

tips.

 personalizing customer service through consumer profiles

 New sales and distribution medium

 providing customizable, direct-consumer-sales.

 immediate delivery of digitizable products.

Extranet:

 Goal: Allowing business partners to access an enterprise’s

information system and databases via the Internet network.
Although current

 Issues:

 Security and privacy—Setting up proper protocols to prevent

illegal access and ensuring the privacy of sensitive data
transmission.

 Management—Need someone to manage and maintain the

extranet⇒3rd party brokers

 Benefits:

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  A low-cost solution for enabling enterprises to be linked
together without the heavy investment to build explicit
networks.

 Allows enterprises to build expandable and dynamic IS

networks that match current business partners.

 Allows cross-industry SCNs.

 Drawback: The technology is still primitive, does not fully support

supply chain process integration.

 Current applications: Mainly used for procurement transactions.

Virtual Private Network:

 VPN connects a company’s LAN to those of its suppliers and to its

mobile employees

 The network runs over the Internet and is therefore cost-effective

 Encryption is used for security

 VPN software at the server and the client end provide controlled
access to resources

Virtual Private Network:

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Intranets and Extranets:

 Intranet

• An internal corporate network built using Internet and

World Wide Web standards and products that allows
employees of an organization to gain access to
corporate information

 Extranet

• A network based on Web technologies that links

selected resources of the intranet of a company with its
customers, suppliers, or other business partners

Intranet ‘Discussion’:

A network based on TCP/IP protocols (an internet) belonging to an

organization, usually a corporation, accessible only by the organization's
members, employees, or others with authorization. An intranet's Web
sites look and act just like any other Web sites, but the firewall
surrounding an intranet fends off unauthorized access. Like the Internet

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itself, intranets are used to share information. Secure intranets are now
the fastest-growing segment of the Internet because they are much less
expensive to build and manage than private networks based on
proprietary protocols.

Extranet ‘Discussion’:

A new buzzword that refers to an intranet that is partially accessible to

authorized outsiders. Whereas an intranet resides behind a firewall and is
accessible only to people who are members of the same company or
organization, an extranet provides various levels of accessibility to
outsiders. You can access an extranet only if you have a valid username
and password, and your identity determines which parts of the extranet
you can view. Extranets are becoming a very popular means for business
partners to exchange information.

Applications of Intranet:

1. Employee telephone directory

2. Support information

3. Knowledge Management

4. Human resource policies

5. Distribute information

6.Customer relationship Management

Applications of Extranet:

 Technology Applications

1.E-Mail -- B2B Communication

2.Bulletin Board -- Subject review ,

Response, FAQ

3.Messaging -- Sales and customer

support

4.Document Repository – Knowledge Management,Customer

support

5.FTP -- Customer support

-- Sales support

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 -- software development

6.Calendar -- Scheduling

7.Video Conferencing -- E-meetings

Internet Applications:

 E-mail

 Telnet

 E-Commerce

 Usenet and newsgroups

 Chat rooms

 Internet phone

 Internet videoconferencing

 Content streaming

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