Original Page[1]
Cheap & efficient intranets flourish
Users around the globe discover magic data access formula
By Torsten Busse IDG News Service, Munich Bureau
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Abstract
Encouraged by low cost, ease of use, short development cycles,
and the utilization of existing hardware and network
infrastructure, users in the US and Europe -- and to a lesser
degree in Asia -- are rapidly deploying intranets in an effort
to streamline internal communications. (1,700 words)
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T hey are easy to use, easy to build, cost effective, immediate, and
don't have strings attached.
In a rapidly escalating phenomenon not limited to the US, users around
the globe are discovering a new magic formula for data access and
communications: intranets linking PC users inside an organization via
existing networks and World Wide Web software.
Intranet offerings worldwide range from online phone and mail
directories, to documentation of company policies and procedures, to
purchasing health benefits and ordering office supplies. (See the "
Intranet examples from the globe[2] " sidebar for more details.)
Although analysts warn of hidden costs and management burdens, the
degree of acceptance intranets have gained in a short time among users
in an industry notorious for hype and exaggerations is surprising.
Whether it is BMW AG in Munich, Fujitsu Ltd. in Tokyo, Credit Lyonnais
in Paris, or Boeing in Seattle, managers in charge of intranets have
difficulties identifying disadvantages of the technology.
"From employees to top management, the response to intranets is very
positive," said Werner Schwaiger, data processing specialist at BMW,
which last December started deploying its first intranets.
"I think this is the first time in the history of data processing that a
new technology gains that degree of acceptance," Schwaiger said.
One key advantage of intranets cited by users east and west is the short
development cycle required to roll out an application.
While applications developed for host environments often required weeks
or months of development time, Web applications take days, sometimes
hours, users say. "The development of Web applications is faster by an
order of magnitude," according to Schwaiger.
Web development by nature is cross platform and eliminates recompiling
and tweaking of applications for use on various hardware platforms and
operating systems, users say. In addition, Web applications developed
for external use can be easily modified to be used internally, or vice
versa, according to user's needs.
"With an intranet and a Netscape browser, whatever the system each
department uses, everyone can access [information]," said Paul Arvis,
project manager at Credit Lyonnais, in Paris. The French bank last
September started distributing internal reports prepared by the
company's research department to employees on its Web server.
Besides shorter development times, drastically reduced development cost
will be a blessing for Industry Canada, the country's national
Department of Commerce, which with its budget slashed from $1.2 billion
annually to $450 million, is looking to intranets to keep costs down.
"Users will be able to get human resource information, financial
manuals, policies, job listings and access to the library system," said
John Desborough, manager of electronic Internet publishing for the
Strategic Information Branch of Industry Canada.
Installing Web browsers on existing desktops to give employees access to
a company's Web server requires little time and little money, since some
Web software is free, IS managers note.
"The Web is something that is both easy to set up and use," said Ravi
Chandran, systems manager of the Computer Center at The National
University of Singapore. "With the intranet, all you need to do is go to
the Internet, download the Web browser, and give the address to the
users," he said.
Intranets also eliminate dependency on paper, keep employees informed on
a timely basis, enhance internal exchange among employees and make
collaborative work across time zones a reality, users say.
"By eliminating paper systems, I have really seen an increase in the
amount of communications between employees," said John Stevens, database
administrator, at Boeing in Seattle, Washington. "We are implementing
tons of intranets, probably in the hundreds," he added.
"We can have many engineers working together world-wide, in different
time zones and countries," agreed Robert Tharp, Network Engineer, at
NASA's Internet Division. "NASA uses intranets in planning for large
projects. The project manager keeps all the information on a server and
different scientists and engineers are allowed access to different parts
of that information," he said.
But adapting an internal Web server that presents information to
employees in different cultures is a sensitive task, requiring advanced
planning. "We had a lot of discussion in the company on just how and
what information should be shared," said John Swartzendruber,
information consultant with Eli Lilly & Company, headquartered in
Indianapolis, Indiana. "Previously things that might not have been
issues have suddenly become issues because everyone can see everything
now. You have to think twice because you really are in a global
environment, you can't think locally any more," he said.
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Intranet? Not here!
But not everyone is greeting intranets with wide-open arms. At this
point companies in the Asia Pacific region are more reluctant than
companies in Europe and the US when its comes to implementation of
intranets.
"It's hard to convince some old-style executives, and even some
marketing people, of the benefits and potential of new technologies
[like the Internet]," said Andrew Lu, IT manager at San Miguel Brewing
International in Hong Kong, who someday hopes to set up an intranet, but
needs to first sell the idea to the company's management.
But the reluctance might be a blessing in disguise. As has been the case
with client/server systems, which got started in Silicon Valley and are
trickling eastward, Asian users may be able to sidestep potholes that
held up their Western counterparts, analysts said.
"The Internet took off very rapidly in short period of time so I think
intranets will be another big thing in Japan," said Kazumasa Nishioka,
managing director of Tohmatsu & Deloitte Consulting.
To be sure, intranets can already be found in Asia, mostly among IT
companies and research institutions. For Tokyo's Fujitsu Ltd., a
corporate-wide intranet helps coordinate the vast herd of subsidiaries
and affiliated companies under the company umbrella. While cross-town
rival NEC Corp. has a roughly 15,000-user intranet in its computers and
communications division,
NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative in Singapore is providing data on its
Web pages that only its staff can access and very soon it will be the
only way in which its agents can connect and communicate with the rest
of the office, said Bernard Chew, manager of strategic planning.
Security an issue
While management in Asia Pacific have yet to buy into the concept of
intranets, only security concerns and a lack of knowledgeable Webmasters
are slowing down the spread of intranets in Europe and the US.
Because Web technology is so new, companies have to build up in-house
Web development and management expertise, IS managers say. To build that
expertise, companies such as BMW are now retraining some of their
mainframe developers, who generally welcome the opportunity to delve
into new and forward looking technologies.
But intranet management remains a hurdle right now. "One drawback I see
to the intranet solution is the amount of maintenance it takes to keep
it up and running," said Boeing's Stevens. "It's more complex for our
network administrators than the systems they already know. They are
having to learn all this new Web server maintenance from scratch," he
said.
Other IS managers agree.
"Our network administrators didn't have a lot of Unix and Internet
networking experience, so the work load was initially really heavy,"
said Randy Jew, Network Specialist, at Pacific Gas and Electric
(PG&E), Cupertino, CA.
But maintaining an intranet can also be less complicated than
administering most other desktop software, other IS managers say.
"You don't have to worry about software distribution, version control
and keeping software up to date," said Willi Weiers, manager of Post
AG's systems technology center in Darmstadt, Germany. "With intranets
you have centralized management and administration and it is easy to
keep information up to date," he said. Post AG, Germany's national
postal service, this month will deploy an information system that links
staff using Web browsers to a Software AG Adabas D database management
system, via an interface developed with the Adabas D WebAgent.
Security of intranets also remains a great concern to users worldwide.
"Confidentiality is a problem for the moment and I don't think fire
walls are truly infallible," said Credit Lyonnais's Arvis.
"We are cutting our teeth on new ideas on how to use internal networks,
but until security becomes much better, we can't risk putting government
and personal medical information on our intranets," said NASA's Tharp.
[][3]
About the author
Reported by IDG News Staff around the world with Rebecca Sykes and Sari
Kalin in Boston, Elinor Mills and Kristi Essick in San Francisco, Joanne
Taffee in Paris, Rob Guth in Japan, Nial McKay in London. ComputerWorld
Singapore and ComputerWorld Hong Kong also contributed to this report.
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Resources
* "Spinning the internal Web"[4] , a SunWorld Online feature story
http://www.sun.com/sunworldonline/swol-04-1996/swol-04-intranet.html
* "Preventing intranet chaos"[5] sidebar to the above story
http://www.sun.com/sunworldonline/swol-04-1996/swol-04-intranet.html#sidebar1
* Netscape Intranet white papers[6]
http://www.netscape.com/comprod/at_work/white_paper/index.html
* Netscape's "Creating Net sites"[7] document
http://www.netscape.com/assist/net_sites/index.html
* "How Sun saves money, improves service using Internet technologies"[8]
, a Sun-produced feature story
http://www.sun.com:80/960101/feature1/index.html
* Internet Advisor[9] http://www.advisor.com/ia.html
* The Intranet Journal[10] http://www.brill.com/intranet
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Intranet examples from the globe
Here are some examples of how businesses around the world are making use
of intranets:
* Credit Lyonnais Paris distributes reports prepared by its department
of financial and economic studies via Web servers.
* Harris , Melbourne, Florida, offers documentation of company
policies and procedures, from purchasing to health benefits.
* Industry Canada , the Canadian Department of Commerce, uses the
intranet for distribution of corporate information and policies,
human resources information, financial manuals, job listings and
access to the library system.
* Intel , Santa Clara, CA, distributes human resources information,
online documentation and supply ordering.
* Fujitsu , Tokyo, maintains its company telephone book and corporate
information, and internal communications on the intranet.
* France Espace , advertising unit of France TV has an intranet that
allows customers to buy advertising space on TF1 and TF2.
* Post AG, Darmstadt , Germany, offers software manuals, software
patches, drivers, IS department rules and procedures on its
intranet.
* BMW AG , Munich, offers information about company's IT equipment and
procedures on the intranet; also employees who drive a company car
can order winter tires and schedule appointments for installation.
* Sun Microsystems , Mountain View, deploys internet technologies
widely inside the company. See the feature story "How Sun saves
money, improves service using Internet technologies"[11]
-- by Torsten Busse, IDG News Service Munich bureau
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[1] http://www.sun.com/sunworldonline/swol-05-1996/swol-05-intranet.html
[2] #sidebar1
[3] /sunworldonline/icons/dingbat.gif
[4] /sunworldonline/swol-04-1996/swol-04-intranet.html
[5] /sunworldonline/swol-04-1996/swol-04-intranet.html#sidebar1
[6] http://www.netscape.com/comprod/at_work/white_paper/index.html
[7] http://www.netscape.com/assist/net_sites/index.html
[8] http://www.sun.com:80/960101/feature1/index.html
[9] http://www.advisor.com/ia.html
[10] http://www.brill.com/intranet
[11] http://www.sun.com:80/960101/feature1/index.html