Network Environments (Cambridge International IGCSE ICT)

Internet

What is the Internet?

• The Internet is a global network of networks
• Internet, short for INTERconnected NETworks is multiple local area networks (LANs) connected to form a large wide area network (WAN)
• The Internet is the most well-known wide area network (WAN)
• The Internet is used to provide connectivity to the World Wide Web

What is the World Wide Web?

• The world wide web, or simply the web, is a collection of websites and **web pages **that are accessed using the internet
• It was created in 1989 by** Tim Berners-Lee**, who envisioned it as a way to **share **and **access **information on a global scale
• The web consists of** interconnected documents** and** multimedia files** that are stored on web servers around the world
• Web pages are accessed using a web browser, which communicates with web servers to retrieve and display the content

Intranet

What is an intranet?

• An intranet is a network designed to work much like the internet, but operate only within a local area network (LAN)
• Intranets provide companies with a secure platform to share information and resources exclusively with their employees
• An intranet is a private **network
• Intranets sit behind a firewall to ensure security and that only authorised users** can access it

Advantages of intranet over internet

• Better bandwidth than the internet
• Data is kept within the organisation
• Less chance of hacking and attacks
• Administrators can manage access to external sites and links

Extranet

What is an extranet?

• An extranet is an extension to an intranet that allows authorised access from outside of the local area network

• Once authenticated, users will have managed access to network resources and/or information

• An extranet is useful for companies who want to provide access to:

  • Customers
  • Clients
  • Key stakeholders

• Similarities between the internet, intranet and extranet are as:

  • They are all web based technologies
  • They allow users to access information remotely
  • They all use client server architecture
  • They all use security measures such as authentication and encryption
  • They all promote and facilitate information and resource sharing

Worked Example A company uses an Intranet. Explain what is meant by an Intranet

[2]

Answer

Final answer: An Intranet is a private network that is accessible to employees of the organisation and not to members of the public [1]

Final answer: It provides employees access to company information and to share resources internally [1]