Importance of Intranets (Private Networks)

The technology allows us to share "almost" everything, thanks to the networks and, mainly -opening the door to the world-, to Internet, but it also gives us the possibility of working with greater privacy, from a closed network and even having gateways to the Web depending on the needs. is what is called intranet. Let's understand the fundamentals of this proposal, which becomes a basic tool at the business and government level.

An intranet is considered as a network of computers and, eventually, other electronic devices. connected, which use the same technology as the Internet for their interconnection, mainly the IP protocol.

That is to say, it is like an Internet but on a small scale, which uses exactly the same technology as its “older sister”, but among a very small group of machines, those belonging to a company or organization.

And why might we be interested in having a "small intranet" within an organization, why not work directly using the Internet? Very easy, because we want privacy.

Our own intranet allows us to execute Applications in a "closed circuit", that is, without them being accessible from the outside, just like the documents that we have stored inside the network, so that they are protected.

However, most intranets also have access to the Internet through what is known as a “gateway”.

This access is incorporated for practical reasons, since in our day to day, we not only work with the information and resources of the intranet, but also with those provided by the Internet, so it is useful for us to have access to the Internet networks.

Technically, Internet access is usually done through a device gateway either switch.

The intranet idea is independent of operating system and software.

There are solutions to implement intranets on the most popular and widespread software platforms, such as Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS, GNU/Linux or the different branches of BSD. We must remember that, basically, it is a small Internet, so a good part of the resources used are the same as in machines connected to the Internet.

The intranet requires tasks that must be carried out by personnel with technical knowledge.

Such tasks include not only the physical and logical setup of the network (computers, connections, protocols, applications, and resources), but also long-term tasks such as administration of the users -with their corresponding permissions-, the incorporation of new hardware (such as computers, printers, or network drives).

An intranet is, therefore, and by way of summary, a computer platform for internal use in organizations, on which to run applications and share resources among users.

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