tools that support a customer's extranet, and some also provide development services to design and manage a customer's extranet presence.
Extranet Services
The lines between categories of extranet products and services are blurred, if not practically nonexistent. A number of consultants and site developers have "products" that have interesting names but are not offered as tools that end users can purchase or use.
For example, Click Interactive has what it calls the Extrascape Suite, a set of proprietary tools that Click uses to create extranet sites for its clients. Extrascape Suite enables Click to build custom applications that support transaction processing. But this toolkit is proprietary to Click, which designs the extranets.
Another example is InterBusiness Partner, offered by GE Information Services (GEIS). GEIS does everything from site design and administration to extranet hosting. InterBusiness Partner "is a turnkey package
that includes [Netscape] SuiteSpot Server applications, with additional administrative and user-interface-type glue that [GEIS] puts on," says Barry Jillett, InterBusiness Partner product manager. InterBusiness Partner is sold as a basic offering, and it provides the ability to put up access-controlled Web pages, a BBS, and a mail server, Jillett explains.
Although GEIS offers the turnkey package, Jillett stresses that the focus at GEIS is on systems integration. GEIS consultants assist the client with defining their needs and interfacing with Netscape, and they can manage the linkage of the extranet site to a customer's Internet service provider (ISP). GEIS also offers hosting services.
Megasoft offers Megasoft Online, which implements such proprietary elements as Megasoft Web Transporter to handle security, accounting, and tracking of software installation and configuration. Megasoft does not offer its product as a development package, instead providing planning, development, and support servic
es.
GTE Internetworking, which acquired BBN, a consulting and development service with roots going back to the Arpanet, offers extranet services ranging from design and development to extranet hosting. In December, GTE Internetworking will begin offering a development package (unnamed at press time).
The new package will include Oracle's database server and other software, says Kate Dodson, director of Web applications at GTE Internetworking. "Although the package can be sold stand-alone," Dodson notes, "we anticipate that, due to the specific requirements across business and industries, development is done [by GTE Internetworking]. The customer can purchase the software and integrate it themselves but would negotiate a separate support contract."
In addition to the new platform, GTE Internetworking provides development, management, and hosting services. The services offered by GTE, as well as those offered by GEIS, are targeted at Fortune 2000 companies. Typically, these services are relat
ively high-ticket items, costing in the area of $50,000 and up.
Hosting and Connecting
Hosting and ISP connections to an Internet backbone are offered by various providers. Companies that have already developed Internet and intranet sites hosted by an ISP can retain their providers, in most cases. However, the increased messaging and traffic demands that can be placed on an ISP as a result of opening the extranet to multiple groups of users could become problematic for some smaller providers.
Most developers will be able to design systems that allow companies having their own direct connections to the Internet to do their own site hosting. Keeping extranet hosting as an in-house activity may provide a feeling of extra security, since management of the "demilitarized zone" and appropriate firewalls remains under the control of the company's Webmaster or other specialist. However, such companies as
GEIS
, GTE Internetworking, Evergreen, and others specializing in Intern
et commerce and site hosting could prove to be cost-effective, in addition to being more secure.
A number of large companies, as well as those already mentioned, provide hosting and interconnection services. These include IBM Global Network, SprintNet, and Worldcom/UUnet. MCI Systemhouse, too, provides hosting and Web site services.
InfoTEST International is an alliance of U.S. corporations and government entities set up to demonstrate and evaluate extranet architectures and implementations. There are two kinds of extranets, according to Troy Eid, InfoTEST's chief operating officer. "So-called proprietary extranets use their own backbone and connection, and they provide encryption," Eid explains. "The benefits they provide are a higher level of security and guaranteed levels of quality and class of service." Eid cites Worldcom/UUnet as an example of a private, or proprietary, provider. One of the major disadvantages is that all the participants on the proprietary extranet must be able to connect t
hrough the proprietary service.
The other type of extranet uses the public Internet infrastructure. "The advantage is that you can use the public Internet for connectivity, but using the public Internet lacks the class of service and can have some security problems," Eid says.
Development Tools
Extranet development tools have evolved from simple e-commerce to more sophisticated catalog servers that present customized content, product lines, pricing, and branding specific to each customer. Open Market's
LiveCommerce
Server for Windows NT tackles a whole range of catalog-server requirements. It enables developers to design tailored presentations of catalogs for specific customers or customer groups. Pricing for LiveCommerce starts at $45,000 for one development license, one production license, all underlying database licenses, and unlimited authoring seats.
In addition, Open Market has built a network of "commerce service providers" around its OM-SecureLink, whi
ch connects existing Web content to corporate databases. These service providers include BBN Planet, British Telecom, iSTAR Internet, MCI, and UUnet PIPEX.
Differential offers FileDrive EX, a secure file server designed for extranets. FileDrive EX implements a technology that the company calls Extranet Object Network (EON) architecture. This architecture supports demilitarized zones that open firewalls and allow multiple users to be logged onto the extranet without compromising the security of any party in the zone. The EON architecture is a multiplatform design that supports third-party plug-ins and will be available for many operating system platforms. Support for many common APIs and programming languages is included in the EON architecture, the company says.
Virtual Private Networks
Virtual private networks (VPNs) are another technology that could reasonably be described as components of an extranet. VPNs connect remote computers to a company's central network, creating, in effect, a
wide-area network using the Internet or a private network as the conduit.
Some VPNs use Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), developed by Microsoft, 3Com, and other companies to embed data into the standard IP packet. This data, which is usually encrypted, is disassembled from the packet, decrypted, and passed securely between the remote user and the central network.
Network TeleSystems' NTS TunnelBuilder is a secure remote-access client that creates encrypted tunnels using PPTP. The TunnelBuilder PPTP client, available for Windows 95, 3.1, 3.11, or the Macintosh OS, connects to PPTP servers and can securely access corporate resources.
ExtendNet VPN, from Extended Systems, is a server that consolidates remote- access lines into existing Internet channels. Remote clients running Windows 95 or Windows NT can connect to the corporate server using PPTP. It should be noted that security protocols will be implemented in routers and switches, which will encrypt and decrypt data packets passing
through.
Undoubtedly, PPTP servers and client software will become an important part of extranet software offerings. Ultimately, PPTP will become ISP-transparent, with "standard" IP packets containing tunneling data passed transparently through public and private IP backbones. Standards for implementation of the router-based security have not yet been finalized. Bay Networks and Cisco Systems, for example, are proposing two different, and incompatible, methods.
Although extranets might be more of an extension of existing Internet and intranet capabilities, selecting products or services will undoubtedly involve a look at the constantly changing options so that you can choose wisely.
Where to Find
Click Interactive, Inc.
Chicago, IL
Phone: 312-482-9006
Internet:
http://www.clickplanet.com
Extranets at Your Service
