Network Environments (Cambridge (CIE) 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