In order to understand the basis of the Internet, it is instructive to cover the history of its evolution.
During 1956, the United States set up the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) to assist it to gain increased military competitive advantage and to stimulate
175 advances in science and technology. In the late 1960s, the US Department of Defense set up the ARPANET group to develop a secure network between computers. This was to develop stable methods by which computers could be connected to one another for military and scientific purposes. It had long been recognized that with the increasing reliance of the US military on computers and computer control of its defence systems it was imperative to ensure that in a ‘hostile environment’ when parts of a network were not working (or were destroyed) the remaining network should continue to func-tion. Thus from the early days it was assumed that networks were unlikely to be stable but still had to function effectively. The connecting network between such computers became known as the ARPANET. In 1972, ARPANET connection was demon-strated between forty geographically dispersed machines in the United States. By 1973, the UK had become connected to the ARPANET. During the 1970s, various facilities that are used today were developed initially for the ARPANET. These are covered later in the chapter and include e-mail, USENET (an electronic bulletin board) and various methods for transferring electronic files across the network.
For computers to communicate effectively across a network they need to ensure that they transmit and receive information in a standard way. These transmission standards are called protocols. During the 1980s, the International Standards Organization (ISO) was in the process of developing a comprehensive layered approach towards all com-puter communication through the development of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI), which was covered in Chapter 4. However, progress was not fast enough for ARPANET members, and in 1982 the development of the transmission control pro-tocol (TCP) and the Internet propro-tocol (IP) established the standard for computer net-work transmission across the ARPANET and became the foundation of the Internet communication standards.
During the 1980s, local area networks (LANs) were being installed in businesses and other organizations for internal communication based around PCs. Organizations desired these internal networks to be connected to the ARPANET, which now had a much wider function that its original military/scientific objectives. In the UK, JANET (Joint Academic Network) was set up in 1984 to provide connections between universities, and scientific and major government organizations. Internal networks in each of these organizations had connections to JANET. JANET itself was linked to ARPANET.
One of the important new US networks commissioned by the National Science Foundation (NSFNET) involved the development of five supercomputers located at five major universities. These were to be connected together, and each was to be the centre of a regional network with links through the telephone network to local schools and colleges. The philosophy was to provide universal educational connection to the network. This network was to be connected to ARPANET. But as the number of networks had risen so had ARPANET bureaucracy, and it had become increasingly difficult to deal with the increased requirements on it. The NSFNET rapidly became more important, and connections to it increased rapidly in the United States. The late 1980s saw the serious commercial interest of the telephone companies in the inter-connection of computers. MCI took over the management of the telephone connec-tions within NSFNET. In 1989, the electronic mail provider CompuServe linked up with what was now becoming known as the Internet by a connection through Ohio State University. ARPANET had ceased to exist by 1990.
The Internet as it was known by the late 1980s was a collection of networks that could communicate with each other running under TCP/IP. Its use was still largely confined to educational, government and scientific organizations. Two developments
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led to the explosive growth of the Internet in the 1990s. The first was the rapid increase in the ownership of PCs, both privately and in businesses. This was most obvious in the United States but was a worldwide phenomenon. PCs were becoming cheaper and much more powerful. Modems, the devices needed to connect the PC through the tele-phone network, were becoming much faster in operation, thus allowing the possibil-ity of graphics and sound being communicated to the PC as well as text. The other major development was the design and development of the World Wide Web. This was introduced in 1990. It allows users to retrieve information in text and graphic form easily from the Internet. Extensive use is made of hypertext and links to information held on other computers. These links make information readily available, and naviga-tion around the Internet is easy. The World Wide Web is covered later in this chapter.
By 1992, over one million users had become connected to the Internet and the World Wide Web via linked networks. In 1993, The White House, the UK government, the United Nations and the World Bank all went online with the provision of information on the World Wide Web. Throughout 1993 and 1994 business use of the World Wide Web grew, credit card transactions were established over the Internet, and television commercials increasingly made reference to websites. During 1995, sophisticated soft-ware browsers were developed (in particular Netscape Navigator and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer). These enabled advanced use of the World Wide Web to distribute and view video and sound as well as text and graphics. Developments in operating systems such as Windows XP and the free availability of the browser software made access even easier. Connection to the Internet, particularly for private use, was further accelerated as the number of Internet service providers (ISPs) increased and the cost of service fell.
The introduction of broadband Internet connection has had a massive impact on both business and home usage. Rapid transfer of data, easy transfer of large files and 24-hours-a-day connection are all possible. It has also moved the charging model towards a flat rate subscription and away from a per-use basis. Membership and use have con-tinued to grow at an exponential rate. By 2000, there were over 20 million websites spread over 150 countries. The Internet and the World Wide Web have now become established globally as a major source of information and entertainment to businesses and private individuals.
Mini case 5.1
Broadband
Broadband is regarded as necessary to prevent the populations of developing countries falling behind economically and socially. But is that true, and should broadband there-fore be a priority for developing countries?
Broadband Internet began a few years ago and has now reached 6.9 per cent of the population in America and 2.3 per cent in the UK. Several countries, most notably South Korea, have higher penetrations (21.4 per cent).
Politics and economics are about choices. Of course it is preferable to have an Internet connection rather than a slow dial-up service. But such an upgrade costs about $250 of new investment and labour per existing Internet subscriber. Is this money well spent?
At the same time, few people in poor countries have phone connectivity of any kind.
Two-thirds of the world’s population live in countries with fewer than 10 phone
con-177 nections per 100 people. It costs about $1,000 to wire up a new user; wireless can bring down the cost somewhat. Thus, the money for about three broadband upgrades could instead support one basic connection of a new user to a network.
There are few things one could not do on narrowband outside its use for music and video. Yes, there are important applications, such as tele-medicine and distance edu-cation. For those, broadband may be justified in institutional settings, and they could grow into shared community high-speed access points. But that does not mean that broad-band is essential as a residential service.
It may be comforting to declare that one can do it all, widening service as well as deepening it. This might be true one day. Until then, universal connectivity rather than broadband is the better but more boring strategy for development.
Adapted from: Let them eat megabits By Eli Noam
FT.com site: 26 November 2003
Questions
1. What issues affect the choice of broadband over dial-up connection?
2. Do you think there will continue to be a place for dial-up networking in the Internet of the future?
5.2 How the Internet works
5.2.1 Connection to the Internet
A computer may be connected to the Internet and transmit and receive information from the Internet in a number of ways:
1. If the computer is part of a local area network then it is quite likely that the com-puter will be connected through that network to a gateway, which will itself be linked to another network. This is linked to other networks, and so on. It is usual for the link to the first network to be a leased (as distinct from a dial-up) line. The links to other networks will also be via non-dial-up links.
2. Another method of connection is to utilise an Internet service provider (ISP). An ISP is usually a commercial organization that provides access to the Internet for a private user or a small business. The ISP has a high-speed machine(s) and a fast link into the Internet. Connection might be established by dialling a number to create a link using a normal telephone connection. Alternatively, a cable connection to a cable modem provides a constant broadband connection to the Internet; ready when required. The cost of the provision varies according to the service provided. The user might be charged a monthly rental and, for a dial-up connection, may also pay a usage charge while connected. At the other end of the spectrum, a so-called free service ISP might make no charges at all, leaving the user with just the cost of the phone call to the service provider. The level of service is normally reflected in the charges levied. Many free service providers will disconnect users after a short period of inactivity on the Internet (often 10 minutes), or after a longer period (usually a couple of hours) regardless of usage. Similarly, an account with an ISP might be