Intranet Basics:

• What is an Intranet?
• Potential Intranet Costs
• Intranet Applications
• External Hosted Options
• Open Source Intranets
• Intranet Outsourcing
• Intranet Design Errors
• Administration Errors

Intranet Advanced:

• Securing Your Intranet
• Using Multiple Servers
• The Client-Server Model
• Promoting Your Intranet
• The GTD Concept
• What is Intranet 2.0?
• Standardized Intranets

Intranet Tips:

• Creative Intranet Uses
• Saving Storage Costs
• Intranet Myths Debunked
• Using RSS on an Intranet

Intranets & Google:

• About Google’s Intranet
• Using Google Mini

The Importance of a Standardized Intranet

Out of all the work that goes into an intranet, standardizing it isn’t always the first task that comes to mind. In all actuality, it should be the subject that comes up in the design and planning process. Creating standards before you design your intranet ensures a healthy and long lasting design - but what should become standardized, and what is better left alone?

Standardizing Computer Operating Systems

There are several rifts in the personal computing community when it comes to operating systems. Web design and graphics artists almost always prefer the Macintosh to anything else - and they are famous for their passionate feelings towards the Mac. Windows users make up the majority of the population, despite the bad reputation Mac and Linux users give Windows. Lastly, Linux users tend to be the technical type who don’t mind passing up a few glitzy visuals for a solid command line.

These rifts, however, should be bridged. Most of the corporate world sides with Windows, as they do indeed provide a sensible solution in terms of dependability and ease of use. (Although there will be some that will disagree.)

The reason for standardizing the operating system is simple - not all applications that work on one operating system will work on another. Linux distributions, for example, don’t run a lot of video games with the ease that Windows does. However, there are many innovative networking and security tools only available on Linux. And of course Mac users have their fair share of Mac-only programs. If one employee needs to share information with another, and they can’t because of a compatibility issue, company time and money is being wasted because of poor design.

Standardizing Web Browsers

Web browsers are often overlooked in the standardization of intranets. Since most organizations side with Windows, Internet Explorer has become the default web browser automatically. However, many web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox are more widely popular due to speed, reliability, functionality, and security upgrades.

So, why not have multiple browsers? The problem arises that creating a cross-platform intranet can be quite tough. Not all web browsers render the same code alike. In fact, Internet Explorer 6 is famous for being the web designer’s nightmare. It takes extra work to get all information to display correctly in every browser - something that can be avoided by setting a standard.

Whether you have the time to remove all Internet Explorer instances and add something else is up to you - but ultimately picking one browser over the rest is the best decision in the long run.

Standardizing Applications

If you try to open a Microsoft Word 2007 document in a particularly old version of Microsoft Word - odds are it won’t work. This poses a threat to employees in a sense that they can’t always go home and work on a problem while still expecting their progress to be compatible with company computers.

This problem is more troublesome - do you lend out copies of Microsoft Word 2007 (and pay licensing fees) or use an outdated (and potentially useless) version of Microsoft Word? Either way, a means of standardization is required. Paying the extra money or doing without the new features of Word 2007 are both better options than creating hassles for employees. After all - what good is your business model if you’re hindering your employees from working?

When Standardization Fails…

Standardization is a nice policy but it can’t quite cut it among large networks. When you can’t apply standardization, you can still employ organization in its place.

For instance - take the problem of the operating system. Perhaps you run a firm that creates websites for clients. The graphics artists demand Macs, and the programmers demand Linux. And you yourself are more of a Windows guy. If the difference is large enough, you can group these computers by association. You may create a common workgroup or even place each group on a different subnet.

This separation seems unnecessary at first, but if your business does come to the point where it needs to expand, it will have room to grow. It also helps with upgrades and security alerts. If one operating system has a security alert, simply apply the patch to one subnet of your network. Compare this to running up and down flights of stairs to find every Mac machine your company owns. We don’t know about you, but the subnetted solution seems more logical.

Closing Comments

Scalability is one of the biggest buzz words in the intranet industry at the moment. Businesses are looking to cut costs, expand, and repeat. To do so they need a flexible network that can bend to their every whim.

The right organization and standardization can save a network administrator a world of trouble and stress. We don’t know about everyone else, but when we design an intranet, we like doing it once. When your business expands and you need a complete redesign of your intranet - keep standardization in mind to save yourself the trouble of redesigning another intranet in the future.