[I]nternal company networks connected to the Internet which make use of Internet protocols and Internet-compliant software such as Web browsers. Intranets are hidden from the public Internet by a protective "firewall´, configured so that the intranet cannot (or should not) be accessed from outside.
Enlarging the scope of electronic commerce to the general public on global markets, the Internet is, at the same time, bringing radical changes in business-to-business transactions, as companies migrate from proprietary networks and closed protocols (such as traditional EDI) to the Internet and to corporate "Intranets".