Establishing an intranet can help provide easy access to information and communication in an organization. Although the traditional legacy groupware platform also offers these benefits, an intranet expands an organization's capability to access information and does so in a way that uses open standards and flexible or interchangeable client software. An intranet offers a more open architecture for building and customizing software and interfaces and greater forward compatibility. Legacy groupware typically refers to closed-architecture, proprietary applications like Lotus Notes or Groupwise.
The traditional groupware platform is designed for users who are working in a geographically confined area, such as one office. One of the first uses for groupware was for users who needed to control devices, such as sharing a printer, modem, or scanner. Now, legacy groupware systems are used for a range of communications and data exchange functions and are slowly becoming useful for remote users. An intranet, on the other hand, is for users who are in geographically diverse areas and want to control information dispersed throughout different offices or homes, or even while employees are traveling. An intranet can even be used to allow customers, vendors, or other outsiders access to appropriate information quickly and easily.
The differences between the two technologies are explored in detail in this chapter, which is written to help you gain a better understanding of how intranets differ from traditional groupware and why an organization would choose an intranet over traditional groupware.
A traditional groupware system requires that all the computers on the network typically run on the same or similar software. In addition, a large part of the application resides on each personal computer (PC) so that data can be exchanged. For example, the Lotus Notes client software does most of the processing of information, then sends updates to the server. With most intranet applications, updates are made on the server itself.
An intranet is client/server based and requires that TCP/IP(transmission control protocol/Internet protocol) be used; the traditional protocol for a legacy groupware system is IPX (Internet Packet Exchange). Legacy software is built on existing, rather than new, technology.
With legacy groupware, much of the computation and work is done by the individual PC; so most of the application must reside on the individual PC. Thus, there must be a fairly homogenous group of PCs on the network. They must all look alike, run the same software, and communicate in the same way. Traditional groupware systems focus on the PC, which is great if you have a controlled environment, such as an office in which someone is responsible for making sure all the PCs' hardware and software are working correctly. However, when the users' computers are at home, or the users are in multiple offices, this task is often difficult, if not impossible. With an intranet, the server performs almost all functions, and the PC interface is merely for display. On an intranet, users from any platform, anywhere, can access information with the aid of a simple, flexible, "lightweight" client interface (like a Netscape browser). "Lightweight" refers to a software program that doesn't demand a lot of system resources.
With a TCP/IP-based intranet solution, which uses a client/server approach, all the PCs depend on the main server or one central computer to do the majority of computations and run most applications. In this way, the individual computer does a minimum level of work, and the server does the bulk of the work.
There are pluses and minuses with both applications. With the groupware system, it is not necessary to purchase a big server or a high-tech computer. And if one computer is disabled, the others on the network will continue to operate; whereas with the client/server-based intranet, if the server goes down, the whole network is down.
On the other hand, it is possible to use any kind of computer with a TCP/IP client/server-based network because of its open architecture. For example, if you wanted to create a World Wide Web site on an internal network, it is possible to use a slow 386-PC, Power Mac, or computer using OS/2, with your choice of hardware. All could access the same information and communicate in the same way with all the computers on the network.
Which type of internal network an organization chooses to use will depend on its needs, capabilities, and resources. There are still certain ways that a legacy groupware system could meet the needs of an organization better than an intranet, but those situations are limited in scope and that market is growing smaller and smaller.
A true legacy groupware system is strictly internal, meaning that it is completely self-contained on a network. All the information available to the users is right there on the system. With an intranet, many intranets are connected to the Internet. This makes it possible to connect your network to the Internet, allowing users to access volumes of information and resources from which they would be cut off with traditional groupware.
As more organizations realize that it makes good business sense to run multiple platforms and to diversify their inventory of computers, these firms increasingly will turn to intranet technology. Organizations will realize that a comparable mix of computers is not necessary and that modern demands will continue to change the face of the workplace, making it necessary for people to connect from multiple locations, including the home, the car, the airport, the hotel, and business meetings. Also, users will find that having the ability to perform traditional groupware functions from multiple platforms will keep them in the forefront of evolving technology. What follows are a few examples of software packages that have used the Internet as a means of organizing information and communication.
Action Workflow Metro was one of the first systems to turn a Web browser, such as Netscape, into a client for workflow services. By using the Internet as a common platform, Action Workflow Metro changes the Action Workflow System into a way of coordinating personal work, tracking business processes, and facilitating business-to-business interactions. Metro allows users to publish documents on the Web, in either HTML or non-HTML format; attach them to the Action Workflow System; and assign them an Internet address.
Using the Internet as a platform, LiveLink Intranet by OpenText offers a series of applications for document management, workflow, searching, and building your own object-oriented environment. LiveLink allows managers and work groups to direct production through a Web interface, collaborate more effectively on business ventures, and easily exchange information.
N-Plex for Windows NT is another type of software that allows data management through the Web. The N-Plex Server includes an Internet Mail Server, Web Server, and Proxy Server, as well as an Internet Message Store and Management Center. These applications give the users the capability to transfer information both globally and within the secure environment of an intranet.
In most traditional groupware settings, corporate information generally is not accessible by computer to many employees. Employee handbooks, benefits booklets, organization fact sheets, annual reports, job openings, training booklets, and policies and procedures pamphlets are usually static files on paper.
Although Lotus Notes allows for some viewing of these files, few organizations utilize this technology. Instead, documents are distributed to employees, making the process time-consuming and expensive. In addition, storing paper, or "hard copies," takes up a lot of space. Sharing of corporate information isn't really accomplished well using traditional groupware systems because these system weren't designed in an open architecture format. But it is one of the easiest things to do with an intranet, and often one of the first things an organization develops when setting up an intranet.
To accomplish a "network library" of internal publications and documents, an organization just needs to acquire a Web server, like the Netscape or NCSA server, and a browser, such as Netscape or Microsoft Explorer, for all the workstations that will be on the intranet. The intranet administrators create World Wide Web pages in HTML of the employee handbook, corporate policy, or any other static information and stores them on the web server. Now the information is accessible to everyone on the intranet at any time, with no reproduction or storage costs. Some intranet systems include a program that creates easy-to-use libraries, transforming documents into HTML for placement on the Web. As one of its applications, LiveLink Intranet by OpenText provides such a searchable, online library for document management.
Corporate information also could be stored on a gopher server. Gopher, developed at the University of Minnesota, also has an intranet capacity. Creating the text file application involves collecting information that typically is shared between researchers and students and making that information available over an intranet. As organizations start to build their own intranets, they essentially will do the same thing that universities were doing five years ago-collecting basic static information, once printed or copied and distributed in paper form, and distributing that information over the World Wide Web, thus saving a lot of time, resources, and money.
The ability of multiple users to control, edit, and update various databases on a network is another important function of both groupware and intranet technology. For example, you can enter a contact and share that information with a group of users on your network, who can update it-like a Rolodex that all employees can utilize. Act and Groupwise are two powerful, high-end contact management software devices that can be used to create such a Rolodex.
Some large companies use distributed databases or other kinds of shared databases on a network, like price lists, inventory, vendor lists, and financial data. Oracle and Sybase make such large databases for networks. These firms also make software applications that can access the information on the databases. However, every computer on the network must run the software to access the database; and each software client must talk to the database in exactly the same way, using closed architecture.
In contrast, with an intranet, the databases can be transferred in any way. It is possible to talk to a Web server, which could in turn talk to the database, pull out information in any format (provided someone has written a CGI script), and display the information in any way requested. With this system, not only is it possible to access data with any kind of computer, but it can be customized to manipulate information, so users with any kind of client machine can both view and update the database.
With corporate information and data, traditional legacy groupware usually provides secure access from the outside world. If your primary database is in your central office, you can create a tool for all users in all your offices, at home, or on the road to connect to that database, typically using dial-up access. The drawback here is that all the machines must be alike and run the same software.
Another disadvantage with this system is that the tool used to access the database is good only for accessing the database. With the intranet, however, your World Wide Web browser tool is useful for browsing through corporate information, looking at public data, and communicating as well. Rather than the ten tools that may be necessary with groupware, only one tool is required to access information on an intranet. One example of such a tool is the "form" that Action Workflow Metro provides. These easy-to-use forms can be used without modification or altered by the user to meet his or her needs.
As a result, as long as you provide a secure method of connection to the intranet (through either the Internet or dial-up access), regardless of where the user is-in a plane, at home, on the road-it is possible to connect to the network, view corporate information, manipulate the database, and communicate with other users. This means more work gets accomplished and users have much greater access to the information than is possible with a typical groupware system.
There are many different means of communication in a legacy groupware system. Because of the high bandwidth, many means of communication that are being used or developed now for the Internet were first used in a legacy groupware WAN environment. One of the drawbacks is that you need different pieces of software for each function required for video-conferencing. In addition, basic communication with users outside the network is no easy task.
For example, most legacy groupware e-mail applications are great for communicating with other people within your network but are impossible to use to communicate with the rest of the world. An intranet provides a link for both internal (office-wide) and external (worldwide) e-mail, putting global resources at employees' fingertips. The Netscape-Collabra partnership, which combines the most popular Web browser with a groupware system, is one example of an intranet system providing both office-wide and worldwide communications. The e-mail client is based on open mail protocols such as SMTP, IMAP4, and POP3 and integrated with MAPI 1.0 e-mail clients such as Microsoft Exchange. Another Internet/intranet e-mail server is TeamWARE Mail 5.0, which combines global e-mail with the security and maintainability of an intranet messaging system.
E-mail on the intranet isn't the only path to outside communications, however. For organizations that operate an internal message board system, either on a BBS or using Lotus Notes or another legacy groupware package that allows individuals to post messages, an intranet makes it possible to open up one or more of those message boards to the outside world.
For example, if an organization wants to provide technical support to customers or would like feedback on new product innovations from consumers, it might open up one of its message boards to users outside the network. With traditional groupware this is not an option, but through intranet technology, it is not only possible, it is available today. One company utilizing this idea is Federal Express, which opened up its tracking database to the outside world to cut down customer support expense. Any consumer with a Web browser and a tracking number can find out where in the world his or her package is. Obviously, though, not all of FedEx database information is available to the public.
There also are audio- and video-based communications with typical legacy groupware systems. Video-conferencing was first used in a groupware environment. Now, audio- and video-conferencing applications are being built that can work easily over the Internet. A survey conducted by Collabra Share, summarized on its Web page (http://www.collabra.com/products/index.htm), indicates that electronic discussions through its product and Netscape are some of the most valuable uses of groupware products; conferencing enhances communication, allows off-site groups to work together, and increases teamwork.
Other conference servers provide a means to professional collaboration. ForeFront's RoundTable allows information-whether images, video, audio, or documents-to be seen by all members of a workgroup in real time, on a "canvas" put up on the Web.
These applications will become more widespread when hardware and software become less expensive. As bandwidth continues to increase and users are able to connect at higher rates of speed, audio- and video-conferencing with an intranet will become easier and more prevalent than with legacy groupware.
There are several ways to bridge the gap between legacy groupware and true intranet functionality without having to uproot your whole system. Many current groupware applications can be modified to use open standards and work in conjunction with new intranet technology. Several companies are providing ways to do this modification through new software or upgrades. Groupwise mail can be upgraded to use POP3 and SMTP inexpensively, and Lotus is working to make Notes databases accessible through the Web. Through a series of gateways, Memo has expanded its global connectivity to communicate with users of UNIX, the Internet, and a series of other protocols. Also, Netscape has recently acquired Collabra Software, which will allow current Collabra users to integrate their internal messaging and groupware systems with IP-based enterprise networks and the Internet.
Another method of developing intranet systems is to program the actual applications or modify current LAN software, instead of utilizing premade software packages. HAHT Software is giving developers and users of all levels the tools to build interactive business applications and Web sites. Thus, by starting with the existing LAN, Web design professionals and developers can design a series of applications to be used by an organization over the Internet.
Although upgrading or modifying existing software is one option
for creating your own intranet, most groupware applications, even
when modified to work as intranet applications, are inferior to
products built with the open architecture of the Internet.
| Tip |
If you already have a file server on your LAN, it might not be very difficult to set up FTP service. By running an FTP server daemon on top of your file server, you can provide access to files using open TCP/IP architecture and with the enhanced features of FTP without giving up the security and structure of your current system. In fact, you can have both systems-the legacy groupware file server and an FTP server-running at the same time and serving the same files. It's relatively easy to find robust FTP servers for almost any operating system. |
For those organizations building systems to carry them into the future, now is the time to leave groupware technology behind. Aside from the fact that groupware will not be compatible with future applications, it currently is not compatible with the Internet. In addition, with groupware, your software dictates the format in which data, information, and communications are configured. Groupware also makes changing, modifying, and updating applications difficult, as software and standards are proprietary.
For those same organizations that are looking for the most efficient ways to communicate externally with employees, business partners, and association members, all these groups must be "connected" to systems that are designed to meet and keep up with rapidly evolving technology. Remember, with an intranet, the software is built around your data, information, and communications needs; and intranets use open standards, meaning the standards of applications designed for the intranet are available to users, making communications on all levels with anyone accessible.