What is Extranet?

An extranet is a network or internetwork that is limited in scope to a single group or entity but which as well has limited connections to the networks of one or more other generally, but not inevitably, trusted organizations or entities (for example a company's customers may be given right to use to some part of its intranet creating in this way an extranet, while at the similar time the customers may not be well thought-out 'trusted' from a security standpoint). Technically, an extranet can as well be categorized as a CAN, MAN, WAN, or other type of network, even though, by definition, an extranet cannot contain a single LAN; it ought to have at least one connection with an external network.