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Demand for the Internet has skyrocketed since the explosive growth of the Web began scarcely three years ago. What started as a curiosity now serves as an unofficial barometer of corporate America. Any company worth its salt already has an extensive Web site, offering information about its products, business units and corporate vision, as well as information for investors. Likewise, electronic messaging on the Internet has become a global standard for communications. The need for Web and Internet services in the corporate world is recognized.

As a public relations, marketing and advertising tool, the Web is hard to beat. For the first time in history, customers can access information on nearly any company, at any time. This makes your company available to customers at all times, everywhere. Timeliness is everything. When your Web site is down, your company's presence isn't there. Add credit card-based ordering functions to the Web si te and it becomes a real revenue-generator. Now, imagine the cost of downtime. That's right, the Int ernet isn't a curiosity anymore--it's real business.

Supporting Internet applications means focusing on communications. Obviously, support for the Web is paramount. However, other Internet services such as Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)-based e-mail and Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) are critical applications for full Internet connectivity. Now add support services such as Domain Name System (DNS), and the varied roles of Internet servers begin to take shape.

The next buzzword to surface from the grab bag is "intranet." Take the power and standardization of Internet apps, barricade them behind a firewall, add some internal corporate data and cook up a new type of corporate network philosophy. Facing many of the same issues as Internet services, intranets demand powerful, yet integrated operating systems.

Already moving from buzzword to vocabulary, intranet computing promises to edge out the proprietary network operating system market. By migrating existing proprietary file, print and messaging services to standards-based Internet-derived services and protocols, using Web services for document delivery and introducing technologies like network computers (NCs), intranets herald simpler networks and lower operating costs with more powerful services. Coupled with the right protections, intranetworks can leverage the Internet for access to global services like the Web.

The IntraNOS In a recent study, Forrester Research broke intranet computing into the following core services: directory services, file and print services, e-mail and network management. Directory services locate information objects more easily and efficiently throughout the network, and they are under heavy development in the Internet sector. File and print services can include Web-based document delivery, Microsoft's Common Internet File System (CIFS) or Sun Microsystems' WebNFS in addition to existing LAN protocols. Fina lly, Internet e-mail, and tools for managing network support services like DNS and Dynamic Ho st Configuration Protocol (DHCP) have become required intranet components.

A successful intranet operating system must have the flexibility to offer these services, but also must integrate with existing desktops. Thus, a key ingredient to intranet service is integration with existing network operating environments.

Equipping Your Helpdesk: Four Products to the Rescue
by iane Danielle

Updated January 24, 1997