Anyone involved in designing or building internal corporate Web sites will find this book useful. A difficulty with any book on intranets, however, is that the material is out of date before it published. The author does a good job of overcoming this, but readers must be aware that the software discussed has changed considerably in the last year.

The book is divided into nine chapters. Chapter 1, “What Every Business Can Learn from the Internet,” introduces the reasons for designing and implementing an intranet. This chapter also summarizes the main reasons a corporation should consider creating an Internet Web site. Chapter 2, “A New Kind of Information,” reviews trends in information management and communications and discusses some of the standards for the Internet and intranets. Chapter 3, “The Birth of the Information Center,” outlines what is needed to set up a corporate intranet. It provides some tips on Web design and discusses some possible problems. Chapter 4, “The Intranet in Practice,” describes intranets at four major corporations. Chapter 5, “Towards the Paperless Office,” focuses on the details of online Web publishing and presents the basics of creating Web documents.

Chapter 6, “Harnessing the New Media,” describes what is needed to incorporate images, sound, and video into Web documents. Chapter 7, “Serving Data and Applications,” surveys the technologies needed to give users interactive access to data and online applications. Chapter 8, “Interfacing with the Internet,” focuses on the relationship between intranets and the Internet, including some security issues. The final chapter, “Managing the Web Explosion,” explains the management issues related to corporate intranets.

The book includes an abbreviated HTML reference, an extensive list of intranet and Internet software, and a brief glossary. It is well organized, well written, and easy to read. It includes many examples that illustrate intranets. Although not intended as a textbook, it could be used in courses on intranets.