from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
intranet
<networking> Any {network} which provides similar services
within an organisation to those provided by the {Internet}
outside it but which is not necessarily connected to the
Internet. The commonest example is the use by a company of
one or more {World-Wide Web} servers on an internal {TCP/IP}
network for distribution of information within the company.
Since about 1995, intranets have become a major growth area in
corporate computing due to the availability of cheap or free
commercial {browser} and {web server} software which allows
them to provide a simple, uniform {hypertext} interface to
many kinds of information and {application programs}.
Some companies give limited access to their intranets to other
companies or the general public. This is known as an
"{extranet}".
(1997-07-14)