Extranet

An extranet is a private network that uses ). It has also been described as a state of mind in which the Internet is perceived as a way to do business with other companies as well as to sell products to customers.

An extranet requires security and privacy. These can include firewall (networking), server management, the issuance and use of digital certificates or similar means of user authentication, Encryption of messages, and the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) that tunnel through the public network.

An argument has been made that extranet is just a buzzword for describing what institutions have been doing for decades, that is, interconnecting to each other to create private networks for sharing information.

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, several industries started to use the term extranet to describe central repositories of shared data made accessible via the web only to authorised members of particular work groups.

For example, in the construction industry, project teams could login to and access a project extranet to share drawings and documents, make comments, issue requests for information, etc. In 2003 in the United Kingdom, several of the leading vendors formed the Network of Construction Collaboration Technology Providers, or NCCTP, to promote the technologies and to establish data exchange standards between the different systems. The same type of construction-focused technologies have also been developed in the United States, Australia, Scandinavia, Germany and Belgium, among others.

Specially secured extranets are used to provide virtual data room services to companies in several sectors (including law and accountancy).

There are a variety of commercial extranet applications, some of which are for pure file management, and others which include broader collaboration and project management tools.

=References=

Wilkinson, P. (2005) Construction Collaboration Technologies: The Extranet Evolution (Oxford: Taylor & Francis)

=External links=

*[http://www.ncctp.net NCCTP website] :Current NCCTP members: :*[http://www.4projects.co.uk 4Projects] :*[http://www.asite.com Asite] :*[http://www.biwtech.com BIW Technologies] :*[http://www.buildonline.com BuildOnline] :*[http://www.businesscollaborator.com Business Collaborator] :*[http://www.cadweb.co.uk Cadweb] :*[http://www.causeway-tech.com Causeway Technologies] :*[http://www.sarcophagus.co.uk Sarcophagus] *[http://www.extranetevolution.com Extranet Evolution] *[http://legalextranet.blogspot.com/ Legal Extranet]

==Examples of extranet products== *[http://www.aceproject.com Ace Project] *[http://www.aconex.com Aconex] *[http://www.bricscad.com Bricscad Vista] *[http://www.bricsnet.com Bricsnet] *[http://www.citadon.com Citadon] *[http://www.constructware.com Constructware] *[http://www.creative-manager.com Creative Manager] *[http://www.e-builder.net e-builder] *[http://www.hotproject.com Hot Project] *[http://www.ramius.net Ramius CommunityZero] *[http://www.projectfusion.com ProjectFusion] *[http://www.sorcecospace.com SORCE CoSpace] *[http://www.xerdict.com/ Xerdict]