Ernest von Rosen

Dec. 1995

It's a problem that most growing companies are familiar with. As more and more people come on board and the supporting computer infrastructure strains to meet their demand, communication quickly breaks down. Invariably, as the numbers of computers and related software grows, it becomes harder and harder to share the information between various departments. The sales department uses PC's and the Product Development Department uses Macintoshes. Throw in some Sun UNIX stations and soon half the productive time is spent just determining how to transfer data from one platform to another. It is precisely that time spent sharing the data within an organization which often determines the success of one company over another.

The first software to meet that challenge was Lotus Notes. Lotus (which was subsequently bought out by IBM) developed a product allowing members within an organization to share data, notes, sales leads, tips, phone numbers, and all the other innocuous bits which make a company tick. It is loosely based on the idea that if I have a database of facts, some of which I want to share with others, then the best approach would be to share that database -- or replicate it -- across the organization. Then Joe who is a salesman on the road could be up to date on all the product development notes I have posted and similarly I would get a copy of all of his customer responses along his way. They have added some functionality to that concept, but the idea of data sharing remains the same.

Now take the Internet. It is based on the idea that if I have some data, I put it on a "server" and anyone who is looking for that information can request it and read it with their "client" or "browser". Think of the Netscape Navigator and you have an example of a splendid browser which solves several of the problems just presented. Joe on the road who is using a Macintosh Powerbook has no problem reading my notes which are served on a Windows NT Server. Using the forms capability of the browser software, he can also participate in any closed member newsgroups, post email to other project team members, and download any supporting documents he may need on the road. The whole process is computer platform independent, as far reaching as the network needs to be (accessible by telephone), dynamic, secure, and inexpensive to boot. Make the whole process accessible to only your organization and you have an "Intranet".

In the third quarter of this year, Netscape posted revenues of $20.8 million-- more than half of which came from the sale of Intranet related products. I have also heard number to the tune of: for every server package sold for Internet (read public use) purposes, eight were sold for Intranets (company only use). Information Week (Dec. 25/95) recently reported that Netscape has lined up four integration companies to tackle this internal market. Andersen Consulting, EDS, Claremont Technology Group and Fujitsu-owned ICL will be using the Netscape products to facilitate enterprise wide computing. "Within a year," predicts Eric Schmidt, chief technology officer at Sun Microsystems, "people who use computers at work will spend the majority of their time with a web browser in front of them."

Aside from the basic benefits of being inexpensive, platform independent, relatively easy to maintain, and fully scaleable, Intranets have many added features. Security is something that most companies are concerned with and the thought of having their data even remotely available to the Internet is not something they cherish. There are two solutions. The first and most straightforward is not to connect the Intranet to the Internet at all. The Intranet within the company looses absolutely none of its functionality other than the ability to link to documents outside of the organization. Sales reports can still hypertext link documents and images from the Product Department. Human Resources can still post employee benefits to everyone by internal email, and exactly the same technology used in the publicly available Internet can also be used in the internal Intranet.

"Firewalls" allow companies to connect their systems to the outside world with a high degree of security. These firewalls are computers dedicated to sniffing out intruders and regulating which information is allowed outside of the company walls. Then internal sales reports are not limited to the data within the organization, but can also include hypertext links to any competitors already doing business on the web without compromising company security.

Add to the readily available text and pictures some video, sound, and program "applets" and you get a fully dynamic document. Imagine an internal memo with news on the latest sales figues. It is a fully dynamic document, infact the next time you read it you will see that it has already been updated with additional links supplied by the readers within the company. The Internet already is a fantastic example of how these "sites" can grow and bringing this functionality to a company can only increase its productivity. For any growing company, or even for any of the small new "virtual companies", the Intranet will soon be as common as the phone (or voice mail for that matter) is today. Now, if we could only find more time to read all of this stuff...

For a free report on "Seven Successful Internet Strategies", call Ernest at netResults! (604) 267-6327 or email ernest@amgmedia.com.

RESOURCES:

--Netscape at Work: (http://www.netscape.com/comprod/at_work/index.html)

--FORTUNE Magazine: (http://pathfinder.com/@@f1XwPjEN9gEAQL1z/fortune/magazine/1995/951127/infotech.net.html).

--Tenagra: "Intranets" (http://owi.com/netvalue/v1i1e2.html)

--Sun Systems: "Lotus Notes vs. The Web" (http://www.Sun.COM/cgi-bin/show?sunworldonline/swol-08-1995/isvbitch/swol-08-notes.html)

--UNISYS: (http://www.teleport.com/~grzbo/ihea/inter2.htm)

--Chameleon Netmanage Press Release: (http://www.netmanage.com/netmanage/pr/chamnt50.html)

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