1995 Presentation I put together.
TDK Internet presentation
While researching the question “What is the Internet?” to
provide a simple unbiased answer to the question., I came across many widely
different explanations of what the Internet really is.
So what does the word internet really mean? The term
“Internet” is abbreviated from “Inter-Networking”
As defined by Webster’s New World Dictionary
Inter-
prefix 1. between or among.
2.
with or on each other [interact]
Networking
1. the development of contacts
or exchanging of information
2.
the interconnection of computer systems.
Networking or a network describes the interconnections
between computers as opposed to the computers themselves and what could be
accomplished by connecting them. There are two major terms use to describe
computer networks, the LAN or local area network is what is commonly found in
offices. It can tie an office of PC’s and MACs together to allow sharing a
printer, disk space, maybe a CDROM drive, or e-mail.
Beyond this is a WAN or wide area network , this can be used
to connect several mainframe locations or several office LANs together . This
Internet is the ultimate a collection of interconnected WAN’s connecting over
10,000 LAN’s together, it is a global network of networks.
Buddha came up with a good definition approx. 2500 Years ago
"As a net is made up of a series of ties, so everything
in this world is connected by a series of ties.
If anyone thinks that the mesh of a net is an independent, isolated
thing, he is mistaken. It is called a
net because it is made up of a series of interconnected meshes, and each mesh
has its place and responsibility in relation to other meshes."
Another definition given in "The Whole Internet User's
Guide and Catalog,"
The Internet can be thought about in relation to its common
protocols, as a physical collection of routers and circuits, as a set of shared
resources, or even as an attitude about interconnecting and intercommunication.
Some common definitions given in the past include:
* a
network of networks based on the TCP/IP protocols,
* a
community of people who use and develop those networks,
* a
collection of resources that can be reached from those
The Internet as a single network is incomprehensible hugh.
The physical network itself has 4 Million
computers world wide with 32 Million people using it. It uses fiber optics,
satellite links, packet radio , microwave, free space laser, modems over phone
lines, leased lines T1, T3, ISDN, ATM Frame relay, SNA ethernet X.25 and many
other types of communications. One of the biggest reasons for the internets
success is it’s adaptability, anywhere two computers can communicate the
internet can expand out to. The network it’s self has almost become a living
creature taking on a life of it’s own, made up of many different organizations
and companies and that have agreed to join networks, it is owned by everyone on
it, and has become a public resource. But the physical part of this global
network is only a small part of what it really represents. The Internet has become a tightly nit global
community in cyberspace, it offers just about everything you can find in a big
city like New York and more. It has news papers, mail, billboards, malls,
markets, libraries, friends, and a lot of gossip, and much more.
Understanding how this came to be will require looking how
it has evolved.
In the Early 1960’s in the RAND corporation , Americas' foremost Cold War think-tank was
faced with a problem. How to make a communications network that could withstand
a nuclear attack? Any traditional
network at that time was like the phone company with central command and
control location, should a problem occur with the control center the entire
systems would stop. In 1964 Paul Baran made public a plan for a network that
would have no Central authority and was designed to operate with major parts
of it destroyed. The principles are simple. The network is
assumed to be unreliable at all times, and it is designed to work around
section that are not working. Each machine (node) on the network has equal
authority to every other node. The messages passed between nodes are broken
smaller pieces called packets. Each packet contains the address of were it is
going and checksum to verify that it is
still correct. The nodes on the network pass each packet along in the direction
of it final destination until it get there. The path that these packet take
may be different for each and it is possible that a packet may get lost, copied
, or arrive in a different order than it was sent. It is the responsibility
of the destination node to collect and
organize these packets back into the original message and ask for missing
packets if any don't arrive after a certain period of time.
This concept was then
funded in 1969 by the Pentagon’s
Advanced Research Projects Agency(ARPA) to connect several supercomputers
around the country, it was called the ARPANET.
Initially the NCP or Network Control Protocol was used. A protocol
describes the way these computers on the network communicate with one another,
make decisions and resolve problems together. NCP was then replaced with an
improved protocol called TCP/IP or Transmission Control Protocol / Internet
Protocol. One of the major things about TCP/IP is it makes no assumption about
what type of connection it’s being used over. TCP/IP is what allow the internet
to go everywhere, It is one of the only .protocols that will work for both a
LAN and a WAN.
Over the years the number of computers joining this network
grew rapidly. One of the most popular uses of this network became E-Mail, But
this was limited to only those who could afford the expense of special leased
lines to directly connect to the Elite of the ARPANET. As a solution for those less fortunate to
receive E-Mail a method was devised in 1976. Using the UUCP (Unix to Unix Copy
Program) to pass E-Mail along from UNIX machine to UNIX machine over standard phone
lines using modems. This uses a store and forward method and was slow and
complicated, but it did extend the reach of E-Mail. This became known as the
USENET and although it is not a part of the Internet it has played a vital role
in the Internets development. Machines
called Gateways have been established that allow Mail, News and even file transfers to pass between the
Internet and other networks like the USENET, but these external networks are
not using TCP/IP and are not a part of the internet. The totality of these
combined networks is called the Matrix.
In 1982 - 1983 the ARPANET officially switch to TCP/IP from
NCP. The TCP/IP protocols are public-domain and with the released of BSD UNIX
version 4.2 from Berkeley a cheap
reliable operating systems became available with full TCP/IP support. BSD UNIX
came will full source code allowing people to port this operating systems and
networking tools to almost every type of computer made at the time. All the
networking software was free and it was almost impossible to stop people from
just connecting up to the internet.
Universities around the country were linking together and
installed Ethernet across there campuses. Ethernet is a LAN networking standard
that originally used a 1/2 round bright orange cable run through ceilings. It
was very simple to plug into this cable get instant high speed access to almost
every computer in every university around the world. The demand for this was enormous. After a
point most college and universities offered free shell account to it student
and faculty. A shell account is an
account on a UNIX machine that allow you run TCP/IP program on that machine and
see the results over a terminal. Soon people were able to call from home and
check there E-Mail, move large files or use a computer on the other side of the
country that they had moved away from just like they were sitting in front of
it. With access to such a powerful system, students started developing more
software for the internet most of it public-domain. As these student left the demand to use these
services from home and business brought about many private companies that did
nothing else but offer University like shell account onto UNIX machines. Netcom
is one of the biggest of these. As the price
of modems dropped and the speeds became higher new things became
possible. One of these is SLIP
The MATRIX - Real Time (Internet) VS Store and
Forward (UUCP)
On the global network there are two major types of
connections that make up the MATRIX,real time and store and forward. A real time connection is also known as a
direct internet connection. All Internet services are fully available and
instantaneous. Store and forward
connection on the other hand are much slower and only support a small number of
services, E-Mail, Netnews, and File transfer. E-mail on a store and forward
network, can take between 2 hours to 2 days to get through.
There are many store and forward networks the biggest being
UUCP (Unix to Unix Copy Program) based, most commonly called the USENET The way these networks operate is mail or
news is in the form of files saved on a hard disk. At regular intervals each
machine on the network (that are not really connected) calls it’s neighboring
machines using a modem and exchanges files. Mail on a network like this might
have to pass along half a dozen machines (NODES) before reaching it’s
destination. This network also connects into the Internet and often mail might
start on the USENET be passed along to the Internet and then end up back on the
USENET.
One of the main driving forces for store and forward
networks is it’s cheap. It is only recently that inexpensive high speed modems
are available for $200 allowing speeds almost as fast as $1000 a month. Only a few years ago the top speed available
over a phone line was 2400 Baud and shortly before that only 300 Baud. And here
where a store and forward network really makes sense. A letter might take 2
Minutes to send at such slow data rates and the cost of sending it long
distance would add up. But on a UUCP network most nodes are a local phone call
and after hopping several nodes would be able to reach the Internet back bone
and rocket across the world to it’s destination. So this provides a cheap method for extending
the internets reach, But it’s not really the Internet.
With todays high speed modems, real time internet has become practical and inexpensive over a standard phone line. Using SLIP (Serial line internet protocol) or PPP (point to point protocol) all internet services are available.
It’s only recently have high speed modem become available
Most online providers are in the Matrix, Compuserve, prodigy etc, But there are NOT on the Internet and can only move E-Mail and maybe NetNews.
USENET
Xerox
Park - Ethernet
BSD
UNIX- TCP/IP
E-MAIL
& NEWS
SRI-NIC
Security
Future
NII
- National Information Infrastructure - Info Super highway
SSL
- Secure socket layer- Electronic Cash & Electronic commerce.
Wireless
and Cable TV
How to
get in on it
Slip
- PPP - ISDN - T1 - T3
Service
providers.
DEMO & TALK
What's
available?
Applications
- Matrix (ON REAL-TIME)
E-MAIL,
NEWS
Applications
- Internet (REAL-TIME)
FTP,
TELNET, FINGER, WHOIS
GOPHER,
ARCHIE, Veronica, Jughead, WAIS
MU,
IRC
WWW
- Mosaic - Netscape.
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Direct
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Research
(business , marketing, technical, academic)
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improved
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