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This book gives a high level overview of the case for having a corporate intranet, the technologies and development cycle behind it and the management issues involved. For a high-level overview, the account is comprehensive and very well written. Just about every aspect of the intranet lifecycle is given (requirement, strategic planning, development, database solutions, management and maintenance and extranets) and the technological aspects (e.g. TCP/IP, HTML, ASP, Java, etc.) are presented in an accessible manner.

The book claims to be 'An easy-to-read reference for department- level web site designers, web administrators, managers and strategic planners.' It is just that. Although it introduces all the key concepts and approaches involved, it does not walk you through the construction process. This is fair enough, since given the multi- disciplinary approach required for a successful intranet project, this would prove too ambitious a task in 435 pages. However, by the end of the book you will have a good feel for what is involved.

Page layout is good, making good use of diagrams, screenshots and code samples to illustrate the principles. The book is well supported by the author's web site (http://www.wiley.com/compbooks/bernard/), which offers a host of resources including a tour of a sample intranet site.