Ch. 6 - The Networked Enterprise

Last Tuesday, we begn learning about telecommunications and networks. Our first case was pretty interesting, as it focused on the availability of Wi-Fi in coffee shops such as Starbucks and fast food places such as McDonalds. Starbucks in particular is offering time-limited free Wi-Fi to customers who have a Starbucks card. Personally, I don't think this is enough of an incentive for customers to purchase a Starbucks card, because if I wanted free Wi-Fi, I would just go to the library or another place offering the Internet connection, like McDonalds. But then again, I don't hang out in coffee shops too often. Over the last few years, Wi-Fi has become so plentiful that it is almost taken for granted. It kind of makes me sad to think that most, if not all, of the cybercafes have probably been shut down because there is no need for them anymore, but I guess technology is just advancing and it's inevitable that some businesses will be lost in the process.

We also learned about the difference between Internet, intranets and extranets. The Internet is the world-wide network of computers accessible to anyone who knows their IP address. An Intranet is a network that is not available to the world outside of the intranet. For example, I work at the Registrar's Office at the Law School across campus, and I guess an example of an Intranet would be our Outlook e-mail accounts and the shared drive with all our document templates that can only be accessed when we are logged into the Chapman University network. An Extranet is an Intranet that is partially accessible to authorized outside users. Network links can use Internet technologies to connect the intranet of one business to the intranets of another. I guess an example of an extranet would be when one company, such as Wal-Mart, gives its large suppliers access to their data network in order to allow the supplier to re-stock and deliver inventory to Wal-Mart automatically, rather than having Wal-Mart order new inventory on its own.