From client/server to intranet

An intranet puts a new layer into a client/server (C/S) architecture, the Web server, which acts as the gateway to the application logic and data. It is three‐tier computing, where these functions are performed on separate servers. The servers store everything and perform the bulk of the querying and the data presentation. Although there is great potential using an intranet to develop applications, there are certain challenges, including: security, privacy, currency, and performance. There is progress with security but performance with high volume transaction processing is still unproved. There have been a lot of mistakes with C/S and the danger here is to go down the same road with the intranet. To avoid this, this study explores the managerial and technical issues involved in developing a corporate intranet. Inspired with the success of Internet, intranet is proved to be an extension of and an enhancement to C/S. Client/server is not dead just as the mainframe is not dead; but the C/S model is being changed by the intranet.