The words 'intranet' and 'portal'* are often used interchangeably by IT professionals, and their meaning seems to be evolving quickly. Here's what each term means to me:

An intranet...

• Is an internal web site or web application
• Is built primarily for employees
• Is accessed securely
• Is often accessible only on the company's internal network
• Sometimes refers to the entire collection of internal web sites and web applications

A portal...

• Serves as the internal home page for a company
• Is the internal equivalent of msn.com or yahoo.com
• Often consolidates many intranets
• May include single sign-on capabilities
• May or may not be powered by a commercial software package

So a portal is an intranet application in itself. The portal is on the collective 'intranet'. And the portal consolidates many intranets. No wonder everyone is confused.

*For the purpose of this article, 'portal' refers to an enterprise or corporate portal.