The Internet is the most exciting communications revolution to hit the world since the printing press was invented! There are tens of millions of users connected to the Internet who use this global network for a wide range of activities. Some users rely on the Internet to deliver electronic mail messages, others use it to copy files across the world, while others use it for research and marketing.

The Internet is a vast global resource that every company should utilize. At its simplest level, a company can have a dial-up account to an Internet Service Provider (ISP), giving one person with a modem access to e-mail, the World Wide Web (WWW) and file transfer. More responsive companies might link all their users to the Internet using a gateway so that the users can access the Web, transfer files and send e-mail.

You can publish a simple Web site by renting space on a Internet provider's computer for just a few dollars (pounds) a month, but this is limiting. The more information you publish, the more it will cost; you might not be able to add extra features such as a search engine nor allow secure commercial transactions to provide on-line shopping since these depend on the features that the ISP offers.

However, the truly enlightened company will set up their own Web server. This can provide a complete private intranet that allows users to create their own in-house Web pages and to publish and share company information between users...