Define Internet. Explain the history and growth of Internet.

The internet is a global system of networked computers together with their users and data.

‘Internet’ refers to the global information system that

Ø    Is logically linked together by a globally unique address space based on the Internet Protocol (IP) or its sub sequence extensions.

Ø    Is able to support communications using the TCP/IP suite or its subsequent extensions.

Ø    Provides, uses or makes accessible, either publicly or privately, high level services layered on the communications or related infrastructure describe here in.

In 1960s there is no networking. In those days Internet concept was packet switching, in which data to be transmitted is divided into small packets of information and labeled to identify the sender and recipient. The packets were sent over a network and then reassembled at their destination. In 1969, Bolt, Beranck and Newman designed a network called the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) for United States Department of Defense.

In 1970s the ARPA was used primarily by military, some of the large companies like IBM, and universities for e-mail. In 1970s the use of LAN (Local Area Network) became more prevalent. By 1972, the ARPANET was International with nodes in Europe at the University College in London, England and the Royal Radar Establishment in Norway. The number of nodes on the network was upto 23. In 1979 User Network USENET was started by using UUCP to connect Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1980s Statistics set of rules governing how networks making up the ARPANET communicate, was established. This set of rules is known as TCP/IP.

As Internet became larger the DNS (Domain Name System) was developed. In 1980 the CSNET (Computer Science Network) connected all University Computer Science Department in USA. In 1990s, lots of commercial organizations started getting on-line Graphical browsing tools were developed, and the programming language HTML allowed users all over the world to publish on what was called the World Wide Web (WWW).

The Internet is still growing at a rate of 100 percent each year. There were a number of key reasons for the Internet’s great success.

a.           Decisions were made on a technical rather than political basis.

b.           The Internet did not require a centralized structure that would not scale up.

c.           Due to the homogeneity of language and outlook, a sharp focus on the Internet     itself could be maintained.

d.           The internet allowed people to do things of inherent interest, such as send and receive email.

e.           The software involved was free or very low cost.