Internal company networks have been around for decades. These networks, though, use their own proprietary software, which is very costly to design, install, operate and evolve. This software uses a set of protocols, unique for each company, installed in each computer specifically for the use within this proprietary network.

Being very expensive, internal company networks did not provide global accessibility nor did they interconnect all the computers and database resources of corporations. Being proprietary, they did not provide the market opportunity for the development of cost effective, massively used software capable of providing KM functionality.

With the booming of the Internet after 1994, the Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocols became very widely used. These protocols essentially became the standard, leading CIO’s to design their internal company networks based on these protocols. As a consequence, any employee with a standard browser and the relevant passwords, can now access the company’s network without the need for specially designed software.

An Intranet is officially defined as "A self-contained intra-organizational network that is based on the same technology as the Internet. Intranet Web pages, newsgroups, electronic mail and other Internet-style services are provided mainly for usage within the organization." [R5]

Assuming that the reader of this briefing has experience using the Internet, an Intranet can be thought of as a network with the same basic user interface and navigational capabilities as the Internet, (e.g. Netscape browser) but with content that is only accessible and only relevant to members of a specific organization.

For security reasons, Intranets also use what are known as firewalls. (Figure 1). These firewalls check incoming, and sometimes outgoing, messages for certain security features. This makes it very difficult for an intruder to break into an organization’s computing and data resources, or for someone within the company’s network to access "non-productive" web sites.

Figure 1 [R6]

Many companies use currently their Intranets to do the following type of activities:

Publishing Company Information: By designing web pages specifically for the employees of a company, information can be put online regarding product updates, pricing or even company social events. This information, as opposed to a newsletter, can always be timely and relevant.

Communication via E-mail: Just like on the Internet, an Intranet can be used to facilitate person to person, or person to group, private communication, through email. The company can have lists of employee’s email addresses by department or geographic division and easily send one email message to such a list, contacting hundreds of employees with minimal administrative and zero paper costs.

Groupware: A group of people can use the same file. Thus, many users can share their schedules online to organize meetings, access data and even work on the documents simultaneously. Groupware can go beyond the company’s walls and even allow the customers to share some of the data.

Database Access: An Intranet has the advantage that by using a common gate interface, data stored in legacy systems can be easily translated to Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and understood by any browser. This makes the data that the corporation has gathered over many years readily accessible to users through their browser. The users can even structure queries to view the desired subset of the data in the required form.

Online Workflow Management: Through an Intranet it is possible to cut down some of the paper trail in an organization by streamlining operations. A procurement system can be automated through the Intranet with all the relevant parties "digitally certifying" a purchase order. When all the relevant parties have approved the order, the Intranet can automatically forward the approved order to the procurement officer.

Employee Training: Using multimedia tools, such as videoconferencing, employees can be trained by personnel in remote locations. This significantly cuts travelling costs and gives access to the better trainers to many more employees.