This type of solution consists of two major components; a server component which is reponsible for handling input from and output to the client component. The server component, which may itself be distributed over a number of computers, manages the data content of the application and controls multiple accesses to that data in orderly transactions.

The above is a generalised description of any client/server application. Internet/Intranet applications differ from traditional client/server applications in that the client component is generally a third-party provision in the form of a web browser and that a great deal of the 'client' functionality is encoded in the first 'tier' of the server component. Contemporary Internet/Intranet solutions are constructed as 3-tier or n-tier applications. The first tier is described as the User (or Display) Service tier and consists of functions embedded in the web pages accesses by a user which manage the formatting and display of the output to the browser. The second tier is described as the Business Service tier and consists of programs which reside on the web server and which provide the automation of the company operations. The third tier is described as the Data Service tier and consists of functions which are stored on the Data Resource server and which provide orderly, consistent transactionalised management of the application's data.

Solutions from any business area may be used in this environment but it might be suited, primarily, to businesses where, at least, a sub-set of the application's users are outside the provisions of any form of private network. The cost of development and support of this form of solution is significantly higher than that of non web-based solutions.

In minimal hardware terms; a suggested minimum of two server machines, U(ninterrupted) P(ower) S(upply) units for each server node and attendant network configuration.

In minimal software terms; three applications component delivering the content of of the User, Business and Data tiers. A Data Resource management product and an Internet Service Management product.

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