Although their names sound similar, the internet, intranets, and extranets are significantly different from one another. They have different technology, divergent standards and purposes, as well as their own advantages and disadvantages. Security is different for each, as well. This paper will explain the differences between the three types of "nets" and provide a basis for comparison.
The internet is essentially a network comprised of many networks that is accessed via the world wide web (Toothman). Using client/server technology in which the client is the user's personal computer and the server is the computer housing the information he wants to access, the internet allows the client to contact the server through the "Domain Name System," computers are able to make contact with each other so that they can exchange mail or display web sites (Gralla, Ishida, Reimer & Adams 33). Although we use addresses such as www.google.com to access web sites, computers do not understand alphanumeric names like that, so they translate them into a numeric IP address that they can understand, such as 123.23.43.121 (Gralla, Ishida, Reimer & Adams 33). Internet standards are referred to as "protocols," and they govern how information is transmitted across the Internet. The two most important protocols are the Transmission Control Protocol, or TCP, and the Internet Protocol, or IP, which are usually combined into TCP/IP 121 (Gralla, Ishida, Reimer & Adams 13). These protocols process the packets of information sent from one computer to another so that it can be received properly. The purpose of the internet is to allow computer users all over the world to access information anywhere on the world wide web and beyond. This broad access provides numerous benefits. Users can obtain information from anywhere in the world, for example, and they can likewise communicate to anywhere in the world. Information travels rapidly on the ...