Intranet Development: An intranet is a private computer network that uses Internet protocols and network connectivity to securely share part of an organization's information or operations with its employees. Sometimes the term refers only to the organization's internal website. The same concepts and technologies of the Internet such as clients and servers running on the Internet protocol suite are used to build an intranet. HTTP and other Internet protocols are commonly used as well, such as FTP. There is often an attempt to use Internet technologies to provide new interfaces with corporate "legacy" data and information systems.

Briefly, an intranet can be understood as "a private version of the Internet," or as a version of the Internet confined to an organization. The term first appeared in print on April 19, 1995, in Digital News & Review in an article authored by technical editor Stephen Lawton. An IntranetSite differs from a website in the fact that websites are oriented to public web browsers that do not need be authenticated in order to view the content. The IntranetSite content is private and does require authentication for each web viewer. Some websites require a subscription to access some or all of their content and be cause of the authentication requirement it makes them an IntranetSites or ExtranetSites.

Intranets differ from "Extranets" in that the former are generally restricted to employees of the organization while extranets can generally be accessed by customers, suppliers, or other approved parties. Through the use of a virtual private networks (VPNs) off-site employees can access company information, computing resources and internal communications similar to on-site employees.

Increasingly, intranets are being used to deliver tools and applications, e.g., collaboration (to facilitate working in groups and teleconferencing) or sophisticated corporate directories, sales and CRM tools, project management etc., to advance productivity. Intranets are also being used as culture change platforms. For example, large numbers of employees discussing key issues in an online forum could lead to new ideas.