‘ NatiooaL M in o r it y ^business 'W eek
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Intranet on the
Internet
Move over Internet. The hot new
sector using "internet-based technol
ogy is the Intranet - a kind ofLocal Area
Network(LAN)based on Internet tech
nology. NO, that’s not an oxymoron.
Think o f an Intranet as a micro version
o f the Internet and World W ide W eb in
your office.
W HA I IS V M M R W F T ?
If you have a handle on the Internet,
you’ve got a jum p-start on
understanding Intranets. An
Intranet is simply a set o f
web-based services on your
LAN that rely on the same
protocols used by comput
ers on die Internet to talk to
sharing information, even in a small
company. Intranets can also become
the place to track the progress o f
projects, book meetings, reserve meet
ing rooms, look up schedules o f com
ing com pany events and carry out col
laborative work. W ith the right soft
ware, you can also publish customer
contact inform ation and custom er
records to the Intranet so they are
easily available to everybody that
needs them.
each other.
The difference is that in
stead o f putting up W eb
pages advertising your prod
ucts or services for all the
world to see, an intranet’s
W eb pages might distribute
project information to team
members, use forms to col
lect progress reports from dif
ferent departments, or spon
sor online com pany meet
ings via chat sessions. And
while many W orldw ide Web
sites use multimedia gim
m icks to grab your attention
(or drive you nuts), busi
nesses typically use an Intranet to cre
ate distribution points for centralized
presentations, train em ployees at re
m ote offices, and so on.
S O M M A I I I» W I M 'R W I I
By now you’ve probably read or
leard something about Intranets, and
vondered w hat they might do for your
justness. The big question to answer
v hen c o n s id e rin g d ep lo y in g an
ntranet is: Does your small business
leed an Intranet?
Before you say yes or no, give your
self 30 seconds to consider this ques-
ion. Ifyourunasm allbusiness with up
to 50 em ployees and have already dis-
revered the value in having an internal
rem puter network for your company,
then you may benefit from an Intranet.
Like a LA N, an Intranet is a secure,
internal corporate means ofcom m uni-
cation. Intranets allow you to use com
mon W eb tools (such as a W eb brows
ers, em ail software, and W eb page de
sign tools) to access, m odify and main
tain com pany information o f all kinds.
By being based on W eb technology,
Intranet can help cut down on em
ployee training time because the main
tool for using it is a W eb browser-an
interface m any users are already famil
iar with.
A n Intranet can be used for looking
up data held in large databases, enter
ing information into databases, provid
ing “help desk’’ support for users and
offering a central repository o f vital
com pany information. That informa
tion can be everything from profiles o f
key customers, to employee-benefit
packages, to online versions o f bro
chures and even company videos.
In addition to being a great way o f
the needs o f an organization, it’s fairly
easy to connect it to the outside world
and customers to have selective ac
cess to your company data, this is
called an Extranet.
One reason Management Informa
tio n S y stem s p ro fe ssio n a ls love
Intranets is because the underlying
Internet technology and key programs
(such as web servers, brew ers and
email) are available for all desktop and
server platforms. W eb pages can be
created for your Intranet on
any com puter. T hus you
could have W indows 3.1/
95/98, OS/2, DOS, and Unix
u se rs c o n n e c te d to an
Intranet run o ff Windows
N T servers holding W eb
pages created by designers
using Macs. Being on an
Intranet means never hav
ing to ask where that data
came from - or even what
format it’s in.
Since Intranets use the
sam e tech n o lo g y as the
Internet, you d o n ’t need
complicated and expensive
gateways to give office us
ers Internet access. And
when it’s time to go public
with your com pany's inter
nal information, it’s easy to
open an internal W eb server
up to custom ers via the
In short, an Intranet can be as much
a useful information tool inside a com
pany to give an overall perspective on
the com pany’s business as the Internet
has become for getting a better view o f
the world.
The important difference here is that
unlike the Internet, your company has
complete control over what is hosted
on its internal Intranet. That means that
you need not be distracted by informa
tion that is not relevant, while being
able to reach the information that is
relevant much more quickly.
Intranets in fact require much o f the
same infrastructure that LAN ’ s do, Net
work Interface Protocol cards, TCP/IP
Drivers for those cards and Printing
Services. W here Intranets become the
most valuable is providing user friendly
Interfaces for people to find informa
tion and information oftheirow n to the
firms knowledgebase. Small businesses
and Fortune 500 giants alike are install
ing Intranets to allow employees to
collaborate at the departmental, corpo
rate, and even global level.
Intranets are cheaper than traditional
L A N ’s for organizing institutional
knowledge. Traditional LAN’s are very
good at file storage, but they are terrible
at making information about files easily
available. Intranets are far easier to
customize, and maintain. Usets can run
it on just about any computer and
operating system. That means users
can pick the productivity tools they
like, and network administrators can
choose the tools they need and have
far fewer headaches mixing PC s, Macs,
and other companies.
Though an Internet is focused on
Internet.
In tra n e ts a re a lso a b o o n to
telecommuters and em ployees on the
road, because remote access is built in.
You can dial directly into the company
intranet or access it via your Internet
service provider (ISP) using the same
software you use in the office.
If you already have a network in
place, chances are you w o n ’t need to
upgrade any hardware, since Internet
software will run on m ost any network
“plumbing” you already have, (one
exception are Macintosh LocalTalk net
works, which m ust be upgraded to
Ethernet). If you don’t have a LAN
already in place, an Intranet w on't re
quire any more hardware than other
LANs. Y our PCs will need a NIC (typi
cally an Ethernet card), and you’ 11 need
the standard cables and hubs. It’s also
a good idea to dedicate a computer (PC,
Unix workstation, or M ac) to act as a
nity!
T he M inority B usiness D evelop
m ent A gency (M B D A ) now has a
database that you can register your
business fo r FREE! The P H O E N IX
D ata b a se can be lo c a ted on the
Internet a t the fo llo w in g address:
http://w w w . mbda.ZQV
The PH O EN IX database is the only
online database that allow s eligible
M in o r ity B u s in e s s E n te rp r is e s
(M B E ’s) to register for current Fed
eral, State, C ity and P rivate contract
opportunities as they are solicited.
O nce registering your business into
the P H O E N IX database, your spe
cific business is com pared w ith cur
rent contract opportunities from the
M BDA opportunity database.
T he M B D A is the only federally
charted agency to assist and inform
m inority and disadvantaged busi
nesses o f opportunities available to
expand and de
v e lo p
M BE
growth. The op
p o r tu n ity
is
y o u rs an d th e
service is FREE!
J u s t e n te r th e
w ebpage, regis
te r y o u r b u s i
ness and allow
th e sy ste m to
w ork for you.
T h e w ay it
w orks is simple.
O pportunities in
the form o f con
tra c ts, p ro p o s
als, solicitations
for bid or ju st plain set aside con
tracts, are entered into the O PP O R
TU N ITY database The m eans o f
connecting an opportunity to a busi
ness is by the SIC code or N A IC ’s
code. (The w ebsite explains these if
you are not fam iliar with them ). O nce
an opportunity is m atched w ith a
business profile, the subm itting con
MM W
Oct. 6, 1999
C4
( O p p o r tu n ity
A b o u u d a s
The City of Portland is committed to building the
economic strength of the Portland region’s diverse
Businesses by following fair contracting and
employment
Practices to ensure equal opportunity for all citizens.
October 4-10 has been proclaimed
“Minority Enterprise
Development Week.”
4 1
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We appreciate this special
opportunity to recognize the many valuable
contributions made by minority businesses in the
metropolitan area.
For information on contracting and programs for
Minority-owned firms, call the city of Portland
Bureau of Purchases BuyLine:
(503) 823-5513 or Loretta Young at (503) 823-6850.
Bureau of Purchases Internet access is at
www. ci.nortland. or. us/purchase/purchase. him
server.
1 )0 1 I NOW!
How hot are Intranets? Most o f the
companies that make Internet software
- such as Microsoft and Novell - are
already selling m ore products for
Intranets than the Internet. Some ex
perts expect Intranet sales to climb as
high as $40 billion by the new millen
nium.
The results to date clearly show that
for any company, not just those already
contemplating an Intranet, the best strat
egy is to begin an Intranet deployment
today. The sixmer an Intranet becomes
a core component o f your technology
infrastructure, the sooner your com
pany can reap the benefits.
For more on the Intranet, go to
www.Mindbndge.com
Have “YOU” Registered
PHOENIX?
O K , so you d o n ’t know w hat the
PH O EN IX is. Take a few m om ents to
ensure you take advantage o f this
FR E E business expanding opportu
>9
U S tttE S S
A tim e t o
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s u p p o r t in g th e fa m ilie s <»f
1'i ii i l . i i i i l
A l t e r SS
ye a rs , o u r
c o m m i t m e n t t o th e
fa m ilie s o l o u r c o m m u n i t y
c o n t in u e s . W e a r e h e re
in t im e s o l n e e d , ju s t as
tract provider is notified, who in turn
notifies the business - and a new
w orking relation is enjoined!
So, if this service is worth the 10
m inutes it takes to register, join the
businesses that are enjoying the FREE
m arketing the M B D A is offering.
A nd, if you w ant to talk about this
service or need further information,
A H istory
of S ervici ;.
w e a lw a y s h a v e b e e n .
A t r a d it io n t h a t c o n tin u e s .
Il is a r e s p o n s ib ilit y th a t
w e h o n o r. It is o u r reaso n
CdapeCoftiteCfiimes
fo r b e in g .
430 N. Killtng»worrh Srrevr
Portland. Oregon 97217-2499
Id.: 503.283.1976 F«a: 503.283.1979
A PROUD HERITAGE OF SERVICE SINCE 1 9 1 2
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