How Intranet is different from Internet?

Generally an Intranet is different from an Internet in the following ways:

i. Intranet is a network within the organisation whereas Internet is a worldwide network.

ii. Intranet has access to Internet but not vice- versa.

Once the difference has been defined, the immediate possible question in everyone's mind would be: Is an Intranet faster than getting data over the Internet? The answer to this would be a mix of features of the local area network (LAN) as well as those of the Internet. A clear answer depends on the possible ways of connecting the client to the network that could be as follows:

• If the network is totally contained within a LAN, then it will get LAN speeds. i.e., the web server is connected via LAN to the client computers.
• If users are connecting remote locations, and use the Internet as the backbone / transport, then the speed becomes dependent on the Internet itself, and the speeds by which it is connected.
• If performance is really the issue, users could also run the Intranet over private lines, such as frame relay. Then it can actually contract with the phone company for actual performance levels of speed, i.e., 56 kbps, 256 kbps, etc.
• Approximately the Intranet operates at10 Mbps - 100 Mbps internal and 33.6 kbps for remote access employees.

The answer tothe question, "Which is right for business, the Intranet or the Internet?" purely depends on how the application is viewed. The major difference between the Internet and an Intranet is the focus: An Internet site looks outward from the company, and an Intranet site is usually for internal use only.