Tuesday 21 June 2011

What Is Internet?

What Is Internet?

The vast growth in the field of information and technology within a short span of time has provoked many people to utilize it as a means of communication. This idea has lead to the origin of Internet.Most of the time, we call it as the Net, the world’s largest network. It is not a single network, but a universal interconnected network of networks that is providing free exchange of information. To a layman, Internet involves large number of participants, connected equipments, software programs and a massive quantity of information spread all over the world. It can be recognised as millions of people communicating about every topic under the sun.


internetInternet supplies data, e-mail, applications, system files and other system drivers and tools from one place to another. All over the world, several computers are connected to one another. It provides easy access to data, ideas and other information without any discretion of age, caste and country. Through Internet, we can download any software or service within a few seconds. Internet applications can also be written that are compatible with all Internet software.

Origin of Internet:

ARPANET(Advanced Research Projects Administration NET) is the predecessor of Internet. DARPA (D stands for Defense) is the new name of ARPA agency. ARPANET was to immense to manage, it was broken into two parts- one for military sites and other for non-military sites.

As it was not easy to operate ARPANET, NSF built its own NSFNET that was connected to regional networks which in turn was attached to users in different areas. Education and Research were the only services that were provided by NSFNET in United States. The term Internet was first came into light in 1982 with DARPA’s launch of Internet Protocol (IP).

Connecting to Internet:

There are two ways to get connected to Internet:
(1) Dedicated access
(2) Dial up access


(1) Dedicated Access:- In this, Internet can be directly accessed. Throughout the day, the computer remains connected to the Internet. A user can connect its computer to the internet through a direct connection using LAN service and can run any Internet application. This type of connection is found in large companies and Universities.

(2) Dial up Access:- Dial up Access is the second way to get connected to the Internet. Dial up Access uses Modem to get connected. PPP (Point to Point Protocol) and SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) helps in enabling this connection to work. We can also call Dial up access as Shell Accounts.

We can also connect to the Net by using Bulletin boards, Mail Call and Wireless systems.

Costs of Internet Implementation:

It depends on the type, flexibility and speed of the connection. The two factors that affect the cost of Internet implementation most are:
(1) The cost of the connection to the access provider.
(2) The cost of telephone line.
Once the connection is established, user can access any Internet application free of cost.

Internet Services:-

(1) E-Mail:- E-mail or Electronic mail is one of the most famous network services. It is easy to operate, very fast and much cheaper than sending regular mail. The Internet Service Provider (ISP) delivers the message that includes text, voice, video or graphics conveyed in the e-mail to one or more recipients.

(2) File Transfer Protocol (FTP):- It is the program provided by the Internet to transfer the files from one host to another.

(3) Archie:- It is a program that helps to locate a file anywhere on the Net. Archie servers exist all over the world and we can select the one that is closer to us which will help in minimizing the traffic on the Net.

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