Leveraging the 'Net for business

Communications News, July, 1998

3) Performance: One of the most important features in an extranet system is the ability to handle a large volume of users and files. Within highly distributed public networks such as the Internet, it is difficult to obtain any kind of network performance guarantee. Poor network performance can be the result of an overloaded server, oversubscribed ISP, or routing table error. Well-designed extranet software will be able to grow as business grows and to increase performance as more demand is required.

4) Management: By definition, extranets must handle the different needs of diverse people. An effective one must be able to integrate seamlessly into legacy environments, communicate easily with approved members over the Internet and through corporate Intranets, and scale easily as demand increases and changes. Every entry or request for entry made to the extranet server must be automatically recorded.

5) Cost-effective: A large segment of businesses cannot afford EDI because of the staggering cost of private networks, systems integration, and data translation software.

With extranet software solutions, anyone with a computer, Web browser, and access to Internet can be set up to exchange data with partners and customers.