Microsoft has a discussion on Intranets that may be of interest. There is a rather technical discussion describing the Structure of the Internet Industry from a data communications standpoint, with links to service providers. The following model describing the development of an Intranet assumes that the organization has the basic equipment for Internet access in place, and may be implementing a Virtual Private Network . Identifying levels of Intranet capabilities in terms of the integration of access back-office applications will help guide business decisions. With static access, end-users access information through existing and known URL web addresses.
Static data changes only when the owner of the information makes the change.
Useful for basic sharing of corporate information. As an example, significant savings may be obtained from reduced printing and distribution costs of corporate policies and procedures handbooks. As information available on the corporate web site increases, so does the time to identify and locate that information. However, as it becomes easier for end-users to find information, the management of the web site becomes more difficult. Level 3 - Dynamic Access to Dynamic Data Access to databases and other internal applications available through the web browser.