There are three types of communication networks used for electronic commerce (see Table 2.3), depending on whether the intent is to support cooperation with a range of stakeholders, cooperation among employees, or cooperation with a business partner. Each of these topologies is briefly described, and we discuss how they can be used to support electronic commerce.
|
Topology |
Internet |
Intranet |
Extranet |
|
Extent |
Global |
Organizational |
Business partnership |
|
Focus |
Stakeholder relationships |
Employee information and communication |
Distribution channel communication |
The Internet is a global network of networks. Any computer connected to the Internet can communicate with any server in the system (see Figure 2.1). Thus, the Internet is well-suited to communicating with a wide variety of stakeholders. Adobe, for example, uses its Web site to distribute software changes to customers and provide financial and other reports to investors.
Many organizations have realized that Internet technology can also be used to establish an intra-organizational network that enables people within the organization to communicate and cooperate with each other. This so-called intranet (see Figure 2.3) is essentially a fenced-off mini-Internet within an organization. A firewall (see Firewall ) is used to restrict access so that people outside the organization cannot access the intranet. While an intranet may not directly facilitate cooperation with external stakeholders, its ultimate goal is to improve an organization's ability to serve these stakeholders.
The Internet and intranet, as the names imply, are networks. That is, an array of computers can connect to each other. In some situations, however, an organization may want to restrict connection capabilities. An extranet (see Figure 2.4) is designed to link a buyer and supplier to facilitate greater coordination of common activities. The idea of an extranet derives from the notion that each business has a value chain and the end-point of one firm's chain links to the beginning of another's. Internet technology can be used to support communication and data transfer between two value chains. Communication is confined to the computers linking the two organizations. An organization can have multiple extranets to link it with many other organizations, but each extranet is specialized to support partnership coordination.
The economies gained from low-cost Internet software and infrastructure mean many more buyers and supplier pairs can now cooperate electronically. The cost of linking using Internet technology is an order of magnitude lower than using commercial communication networks for electronic data interchange (EDI) , the traditional approach for electronic cooperation between business partners.
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