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WAIS (Wide Area Information Service)

WAIS servers allow the user to specify the databases requested for search, and to conduct a subject-matter search on the basis of keywords.

Intranets

Intranets are the concept of the Internet turned inward—an unexpected turn, perhaps, but a very significant one. Intranets essentially are mini-Internets deployed within organizations or groups of organizations. They can be in the form of internal Internets, functioning to provide access to information resources within the company, university or other organization. They can be confined to a campus environment or can extend across the wide area to link together multiple, geographically-dispersed locations. They also can function as a closed subnet.

Although conceived as recently as 1995, Intranets have spread quickly. In early 1996, Netscape management estimated that fully 70% of its revenues ($21 million, 3Q 1995) were coming from the Intranet market. Further, Netscape counted 50 of the Fortune 100 among its Intranet clientele. According to Forrester Research, 22% of largest U.S. companies have deployed the Internet concept on an Intranet basis [13-53]. From its humble beginnings in 1995, it is anticipated that the market for Intranet software will exceed $1 billion by 1997.

Intranets can be used for communications to and between employees for just about any purpose imaginable. A number of corporations use Intranets to keep their employees advised of company policies, job postings, company events, product literature, press releases, and so on. As is the case with the Internet and World Wide Web, images, video clips and sound clips can be added to textual information. Hypertext links can be included to hot link to other sites and databases, and even to the Internet and WWW.

Effective Intranet examples abound. Compaq Computer allows employees to tap into their Intranet in order to reallocate investments in 401(k) plans. National Semiconductor uses its Intranet to schedule departmental meetings online. Ford used an extended Intranet to link engineers in Asia, Europe, and the United States in order the assist in the design of the 1996 Taurus automobile. Silicon Graphics, which dubbed its Intranet Silicon Junction, provides access online to over two dozen corporate databases. Previously, access to that information was on the basis of a paper request to an information access expert, a process that could take days. Even Hollywood has gotten into the act. DreamWorks SKG is using an Intranet to link production managers and artists toward the development of the full-length animated movie Prince of Egypt. The company will use the technology to track the status and progress of projects and animation objects, and to coordinate scenes. Plans are to expand its use to other projects, including movies, music and TV shows [13-54].

Healthcare organizations have made fairly extensive use of Intranets to link remote clinics, reducing paperwork and abbreviating communication time [13-55] and [13-56]. Kaiser Permanente has put the Intranet concept to use to keep employees abreast of changes in health legislation and insurance law, as well as to provide access to company telephone directories and human resources manuals [13-57].

Eli Lilly uses its Intranet to schedule clinical trials of new drugs and to speed the process of regulatory submissions in 120 countries. The company’s initial implementation of 3,000 desktops was accomplished at a costs of about $80,000. Plans are to hook up approximately 16,000 employees, or about one-third of its entire staff. The company considered groupware products such as Lotus Notes, but found the costs unfavorabe because of the training and support requirements when compared to the Intranet alternative [13-58].

On the carrier front, the major IXCs all offer network-based Intranet services, or intend to do so. By way of example, MCI offers Safenet, which is a highly secure offering intended for financial institutions and the like. MCI also plans, in alliance with Digital Equipment, for more general consumption, services dubbed Website and Enterprise Connect [13-59].

In the continuing battle for the desktop, Microsoft Windows is in contention with Netscape and other browser manufacturers, although alliances are the likely outcome. As we noted in the case of Eli Lilly, the groupware manufacturers also are in the middle of this battle, and appear to be at a decided disadvantage. The Intranet approach offers numerous advantages, including multiplatform functionality, low cost of connectivity, low cost of application development, and scalability. Additionally, the Intranet uses the same browsers as one would use for Internet applications, avoiding the training and support requirements imposed by another application software package such as groupware.

In response to the challenge of the Intranet and browser software, groupware manufacturers such as Lotus have lowered prices dramatically for both client and server software. They also have improved the user interfaces to make them more browser-like. Lotus Notes (version 4, January 1996) even includes its own browser that can be used for Web access and search.

Internet Security

The Internet is inherently insecure. It is, after all, an open network—that is its major strength and its major weakness. While commerce is promoted as the future of the Net, lack of security has slowed development of commercial applications. However, it is worth noting that providing your credit card number over the Net is probably as secure as is giving your credit card to a server at a restaurant.

In a typical retail environment, one’s credit card is swiped through a card reader, which reads the magnetic stripe and transmits the credit card number to an authorization clearing house. The leading manufacturer of such devices is VeriFone, which announced in August 1995 its intentions to acquire Enterprise Integration Technologies (EIT), a leader in the development of Internet security systems and protocols. Commerce on the Net promises to be big business, although well into the future.

Beyond security concerns over Internet commerce, one must remember that access to the Net is a two-way door—just as users can get out, others can get in. All too often, those others have no legitimate right to do so. Although few organizations will admit to having had their systems breached via the Internet, it is clear that such occurrences are all too common. A 1995 study by the National Computer Security Association indicated that more than half of the 250 information-security chiefs polled had experienced Net-related security breaches during the past year. A similar poll conducted of 1,290 IS executives by Information Week and Ernst & Young indicated that 20% of the companies had experienced break-ins or attempts [13-60].


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