Editing Intranet (section)

==Enterprise private network==
An '''enterprise private network''' is a [[computer network]] built by a business to interconnect its various company sites (such as production sites, offices and shops) in order to share computer resources.

Beginning with the digitalisation of telecommunication networks, started in the 1970s in the US by AT&T,<ref>"[http://www.corp.att.com/history/nethistory/switching.html History of network switching]". AT&T.</ref> and propelled by the growth in computer systems availability and demands, enterprise networks have been built for decades without the need to append the term ''private'' to them. The networks were operated over [[telecommunications network]]s and, as for voice communications, a certain amount of security and secrecy was expected and delivered.

But with the Internet in the 1990s came a new type of network, [[virtual private network]]s, built over this public infrastructure, using encryption to protect the data traffic from eaves-dropping. So the enterprise networks are now commonly referred to as ''enterprise private networks'' in order to clarify that these are private networks, in contrast to public networks.