This year, extranets become pratical for everyone

If 1996 was the year of the Internet and 1997 the year of the intranet, 1998 will be the year of the extranet.

While many businesses have embraced Internet technologies such as Web sites and e-mail, some - particularly small-to-midsize firms - have not seen any return on the investment, other than the status of having their own Web site. The growing use of extranets, especially for electronic commerce, is changing that situation. Now it is becoming more and more evident that the Internet can provide viable cost-saving or revenue-generating solutions to businesses of all sizes.

So what exactly is an extranet? Why would any organization, especially a service-based company that is not selling products on a large scale, want to implement one?

An extranet is simply an Internet application that maintains live, relational corporate databases that can be updated via the Internet or the internal corporate network. Rather than regenerating a Web site each time the information is updated internally or externally, an extranet stores and retrieves information from the database and updates the Web data on the fly.

Companies currently use database/Web integration tools on their corporate intranet sites. This year, more and more organizations will make limited amounts of information available to the general public or specific customers via secure Web-based transactions.

The two things that make extranets viable are the server-based Open Database Connectivity and Java Database Connectivity instruction-processing capabilities of the latest Web servers and the Secure Sockets Layer encryption built into the latest browsers. These enable any company to create a Web site with direct links to corporate databases. Server-side processing allows transactions to be processed interactively, without requiring regeneration of HTML on the Web site or client-side processing.

In the past, putting a catalog online was expensive, costing anywhere from $20,000 to $70,000. It also required quite a bit of maintenance because of regular changes in products, styles and prices. Most companies could not afford the cost in software, hardware and additional manpower. This year, we'll see a rash of low-cost products for setting up and maintaining an Internet commerce site, including credit card processing products that sell for as little as $250.

What about service organizations and other small businesses that have not fully embraced the Internet? Extranets offer the possibility to coordinate with customers in a low-maintenance, highly productive manner. Accountants can have clients file tax returns online. Doctors can have patients schedule appointments, order prescriptions and review medications online. Lawyers can schedule meetings, perform and update research, and coordinate with one another online. Restaurants can take orders, update menus and offer specials online. Consulting firms can process requests for troubleshooting as well as help desk and other services remotely. Some supermarkets already are offering home delivery for Internet-based ordering.

All of the information that is processed online can be stored and retrieved live, via a database on the corporate network that is managed internally to keep all information up-to-date. Access to these services can be limited to select customers or open to anyone. Security options are many, depending on the information being processed.

Overall cost for such a system is under $5,000, including the hardware. If you already have the server hardware, the cost could be as little as $250 for the Internet commerce software plus any additional consulting or development services.

Such a small price for such a great return on investment.

For the first time, Internet technologies can prove to be a truly viable solution for any company - for more than just e-mail.

Dowdie is president of Intellitech Consulting Enterprises, Inc., a Malden, Mass.-based technology consulting and software development firm. He can be reached at ddowdie@intellitech.net.