Implementing Extranets: The Internet as a Virtual Private Network
How to lay the groundwork for extranet applications.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Implementing Extranets: The Internet as a Virtual Private Network
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter Objectives
The goals of this chapter are to:
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explain why and for whom I wrote this book,
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define the terms "Internet as a virtual private network" and "extranet," and
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to describe the lessons learned from an early use of the extranet. In later chapters of this book, we'll explore the extranet and the performance, security, capacity, management, and administration issues that surround it in more detail.
Why I Wrote This Book and Who I Wrote It For
A central theme of this and my other book, Migrating to the Intranet and Microsoft Exchange, is that the major business challenges of today involve forecasting, decision making, and focus. Successfully meeting these challenges requires information access, information sharing, and collaboration. In other words, information technology can deliver tangible benefits to end users, managers, and businesses.
In this book, my focus is on how individuals as well as businesses can benefit from extranets. Thus, I have included descriptions of how individuals as well as businesses are using extranets to achieve success. In general, my business focus is on large enterprises. However, I will frequently discuss small and medium enterprises as well in order to better illustrate my points. I don't know of any rigorous definition of small, medium, and large enterprises so I will make up my own.
In my view, a large enterprise is one with many thousands of employees and end users of technology spread across many geographic locations. To me, a medium enterprise is one with a few...
Copyright Butterworth-Heinemann 1998 under license agreement with Books24x7
