Share Systems, Not Your Whole Network An extranet gives suppliers, clients, and partners controlled access to the systems they need and nothing else. Learn how they work and how to secure one.

A private network or portal a company extends to specific outside parties — suppliers, clients, partners — with controlled logins and limited access.

An intranet is for employees only; an extranet deliberately lets selected external users in, which is why access control matters so much more.

Yes, though today they often take the form of partner portals and shared workspaces rather than dedicated network links. The access-control principles are unchanged.