Key difference: The Internet is the massive global system that connects computer networks around the world together. Millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks worldwide connect with each other over the internet to share massive amounts of information, resources and services. Intranet, on the other hand, is an internal network. It is used by companies to connect their computers on a network. Only the members of the corporation with authorized access may log on and access the network and the data on the network.

The Internet is the massive global system that connects computer networks around the world together. Millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks worldwide connect with each other over the internet to share massive amounts of information, resources and services. Internet is what we use to access web pages, send e-mails, listen to music or watch videos online. It hosts an extensive range of information, one that we generally take for granted today.

The Internet uses the standard Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to allow us to connect to the net. It has numerous information resources and services, such as the web pages of the World Wide Web (WWW), games, videos, images, e-mail, social networking, etc. It has even spawned new services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). The Internet is currently being used by billions of people worldwide.

The Internet carries information from all streams; traditional, such as newspaper, book and other print publishing; and modern such as blogging and web feeds. It also enabled new forms of human interactions through, instant messaging, e-mail, Internet forums, and social networking. It has gained so much popularity that in fact almost all forms of business communication as well as personal happens online through e-mail, instant messaging and social networking. With phone calls and text messaging (SMS) coming is second.

Intranet, on the other hand, is an internal network. It is used by companies to connect their computers on a network. Webopedia defines intranet as “a network based on TCP/IP protocols (an internet) belonging to an organization, usually a corporation, accessible only by the organization's members, employees, or others with authorization. An intranet's Web sites look and act just like any other Web sites, but the firewall surrounding an intranet fends off unauthorized access.”

The intranet is based on TCP/IP protocols, however, it is inaccessible from the outside. Only the members of the corporation with authorized access may log on and access the network and the data on the network. Like all networks, the Intranet is mainly used to share data, information, resources, company programs, software applications, as well as facilitate communication between people or work groups within the company. Intranet improves the data sharing capability and overall knowledge base of the company’s employees.

While, anyone can setup an intranet; it is mainly used by corporations as it is a secure network and is much less expensive to build and manage than private networks based on proprietary protocols. In fact, Intranets are considered to be one of the fastest-growing segments of the Internet.

The main difference between an intranet and the Internet is that the Internet is open to all, whereas the intranet is a limited network and is only open to those with appropriate access.

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