Internet Structure

The Internet connects nearly 400 million users worldwide and is an essential part of how we work, play, communicate, and conduct commerce. We use the Internet in ways that seemed unimaginable The term Internet refers to the global information system that -- (i) is logically linked together by a globally unique address space based on the Internet Protocol (IP) or its subsequent extensions/follow-ons. (ii) is able to support communications using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite or its subsequent extensions/follow-ons, and/or other IP-compatible protocols; and (iii) provides, uses or makes accessible layered on the communications and related infrastructure described herein., either publicly or privately, high level services. Computers speak to one another and send information back and forth, which is accomplished, by sending and receiving electronic impulses and decoding them into messages. In order to communicate with one another the computers are linked up in a network. In 1972, the first e-mail program was created by Ray Tomlinson of BBN. The Web began in 1989; it wasn’t released to the world till the early 90’s, that’s when it became the World Wide Web. Statistics say that 1 in 3 people use the Internet for e-mail, 1 in 6 use it because they want to find out how it works, 1 in 8 want business information and 1 in 2 go to the Internet for education, hobbies, job listings, and entertainment. In 1993 less than 1% of users paid for the use of the Internet. By 1995, it rose over 200% due to the profits companies made from providing the service. Because of the demand for the Internet around the World, and the amount of capital a business could make that provides this service, is surprising. An example of this is Cisco Systems, a once Silicon Valley based business, which is now an Internet Technology provider, brought in $10 billion in 1986, this is 14 years before what the Internet is today. In 1999 they became the third company in history to exceed $300 billion in market capitalization, second is Microsoft, and first is General Electric (Bunnell 29).. One thing certain is that the Internet has revolutionized the computer and communication technology. The Internet is a worldwide broadcasting capability, a mechanism for association and interaction between individuals without regard to geographic location (Comer 81).