Internet presence, in contrast, is usually driven by improving customer service and satisfaction, and is controlled by just one centre, often sales or marketing. Warren suggests that developing an externally-focused intranet application, and giving access incrementally to customers or suppliers is a good approach to building an internet presence. Linking Internet and intranet can require changes to other internal systems, resulting in both challenges and additional benefits. Integrating this into their intranet and extranet gave access to the information both internally and externally. Not surprisingly, security is one of the key concerns of IT managers implementing intranet and internet together.
Solid firewalls are an essential element in successfully integrating internal and external systems.
As security systems improve, this is likely to become less of a barrier to providing limited external access to systems. Over time, the borders between Internet and intranets may gradually dissolve. Research firm Gartner Group predicts that as the two technologies evolve to deal with issues such as security, openness, and reliability, they will converge around cooperating architectures to form a worldwide marketplace by the year 2000.