03/18/96 NOW, AN INTRANET IN A BOX

NOW, AN INTRANET IN A BOX

THE HOTTEST TREND SWEEPING CORPORATE AMERICA these days is the intranet--World Wide Web sites that companies are developing on their own internal computer networks to streamline communications and spur collaboration among employees. One company hoping to cash in on the trend is Frontier Technologies of Mequon, Wis. In June, the software maker plans to ship Intranet Genie, a software package that bundles all of the things a company needs to set up an Internet-like network. Call it Intranet for Dummies.
The package consists of a single CD-ROM containing a Windows NT-based Web server, an intranet ``builder'' that walks you through the process of setting up Web pages, a search engine to help employees find information, administration tools for managing the net, an E-mail program, and a Web browser. To help corporations jump-start the use of their intranets, the Frontier offering also includes several ready-made applications to help in day-to-day corporate tasks such as conference-room scheduling and purchasing of supplies. Pricing has not been set, but Frontier says the program will cost less than $100 per worker for large corporate intranet setups.
EDITED BY PAUL M. ENG