Internet connects people all over the world, through this transfer of information has been very easy and fast. Not like before the Internet was introduced, people tend to give more effort transporting data and information manually, which will take more time and even pushes you to spend more money.
The concept and foundation for creation of the Internet was somehow developed by three individuals and a research conference, each of which changed the way we thought about technology by accurately predicting its future:
Vannevar Bush wrote the first visionary description of the potential uses for information technology with his description of the "memex" automated library system.
Norbert Wiener invented the field of Cybernetics, inspiring future researchers to focus on the use of technology to extend human capabilities.
The 1956 Dartmouth Artificial Intelligence conference crystallized the concept that technology was improving at an exponential rate, and provided the first serious consideration of the consequences.
Marshall McLuhan made the idea of a global village interconnected by an electronic nervous system part of our popular culture.
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Sputnik I, triggering US President Dwight Eisenhower to create the ARPA agency to regain the technological lead in the arms race. ARPA appointed J.C.R. Licklider to head the new IPTO organization with a mandate to further the research of the SAGE program and help protect the US against a space-based nuclear attack. Licklider evangelized within the IPTO about the potential benefits of a country-wide communications network, influencing his successors to hire Lawrence Roberts to implement his vision.
Roberts led development of the network, based on the new idea of packet switching discovered by Paul Baran at RAND, and a few years later by Donald Davies at the UK National Physical Laboratory. A special computer called an Interface Message Processor was developed to realize the design, and the ARPANET went live in early October, 1969. The first communications were between Leonard Kleinrock's research center at the University of California at Los Angeles, and Douglas Engelbart's center at the Stanford Research Institute.
The first networking protocol used on the ARPANET was the Network Control Program. In 1983, it was replaced with the TCP/IP protocol developed by Robert Kahn, Vinton Cerf, and others, which quickly became the most widely used network protocol in the world.
In 1990, the ARPANET was retired and transferred to the NSFNET. The NSFNET was soon connected to the CSNET, which linked Universities around North America, and then to the EUnet, which connected research facilities in Europe. Thanks in part to the NSF's enlightened management, and fueled by the popularity of the web, the use of the Internet exploded after 1990, causing the US Government to transfer management to independent organizations starting in 1995.
http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_summary.htm
Infrastructure description
The overall responsibility for managing Internet Protocol address or domain names at upper levels is vested in the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), which delegates the actual administration of most functions to other bodies.
The concept and foundation for creation of the Internet was somehow developed by three individuals and a research conference, each of which changed the way we thought about technology by accurately predicting its future:
Vannevar Bush wrote the first visionary description of the potential uses for information technology with his description of the "memex" automated library system.
Norbert Wiener invented the field of Cybernetics, inspiring future researchers to focus on the use of technology to extend human capabilities.
The 1956 Dartmouth Artificial Intelligence conference crystallized the concept that technology was improving at an exponential rate, and provided the first serious consideration of the consequences.
Marshall McLuhan made the idea of a global village interconnected by an electronic nervous system part of our popular culture.
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Sputnik I, triggering US President Dwight Eisenhower to create the ARPA agency to regain the technological lead in the arms race. ARPA appointed J.C.R. Licklider to head the new IPTO organization with a mandate to further the research of the SAGE program and help protect the US against a space-based nuclear attack. Licklider evangelized within the IPTO about the potential benefits of a country-wide communications network, influencing his successors to hire Lawrence Roberts to implement his vision.
Roberts led development of the network, based on the new idea of packet switching discovered by Paul Baran at RAND, and a few years later by Donald Davies at the UK National Physical Laboratory. A special computer called an Interface Message Processor was developed to realize the design, and the ARPANET went live in early October, 1969. The first communications were between Leonard Kleinrock's research center at the University of California at Los Angeles, and Douglas Engelbart's center at the Stanford Research Institute.
The first networking protocol used on the ARPANET was the Network Control Program. In 1983, it was replaced with the TCP/IP protocol developed by Robert Kahn, Vinton Cerf, and others, which quickly became the most widely used network protocol in the world.
In 1990, the ARPANET was retired and transferred to the NSFNET. The NSFNET was soon connected to the CSNET, which linked Universities around North America, and then to the EUnet, which connected research facilities in Europe. Thanks in part to the NSF's enlightened management, and fueled by the popularity of the web, the use of the Internet exploded after 1990, causing the US Government to transfer management to independent organizations starting in 1995.
http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_summary.htm
Infrastructure description
The overall responsibility for managing Internet Protocol address or domain names at upper levels is vested in the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), which delegates the actual administration of most functions to other bodies.
At global regional levels, the principal bodies providing allocation and registration services that support the operation of the Internet globally are:
- RIPE NCC (Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre)
- ARIN (American Registry for Internet Numbers)
- APNIC (Asia Pacific Network Information Centre)
- LACNIC (Latin American and Caribbean IP address Regional Registry)
- AfriNIC (African Regional Registry for Internet Number Resources)
Internet Operations
Internet operations are coordinated worldwide through the Internet Engineering Planning Group (IEPG), an Internet operational group intended to assist Internet Service Providers to interoperate within the Global Internet. At global regional levels, bodies active in coordinating operations include the:
American Registry for Internet Numbers
American Registry for Internet Numbers
Manages the Internet numbering resources for North America, a portion of the Caribbean, and sub-equatorial Africa.
Asia Pacific Networking Group (APOPs)
Promotes the Internet and the coordination of network inter-connectivity in the Asia Pacific Region.
Internet Security
Promotes the Internet and the coordination of network inter-connectivity in the Asia Pacific Region.
Internet Security
Internet network security is significantly facilitated by a number of Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) in eight countries and within a number of service provider operations and private networks. They were formed to continually monitor the network for security incidents, serve as a repository for information about such incidents, and develop responsive advisories. The CERTs are coordinated by the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams.
Internationalisation
Alis Technologies
Founded in 1981, Alis Technologies Inc. develops standards for Multilingual Information Management Solutions (MIMS )with the IETF (Internet Engeneering Task Force), the Unicode Consortium, W3C and LISA.
Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) Committee
Working group to study making domain names available in character sets other than ASCII.
MINC (Multilingual Internet Names Consortium)
A non-profit, non-governmental, international organization. It focuses on the promotion of multilingualisation of Internet names, including Internet domain names and keywords, internationalization of Internet names standards and protocols, technical coordination and liaison with other international bodies.
CNNIC (China Network Information Center)
(site is in Chinese)
KRNIC (Korea Network Information Center)
Established the system for managing Internet address resources in Korea.
TWNIC (Taiwan Network Infomation Center)
The unique neutral and non-profit organization that takes charge of the domain name registration and IP address allocation in Taiwan.
The Unicode Consortium
Responsible for defining the behavior and relationships between Unicode characters, and providing technical information to implementers. The Consortium cooperates with ISO in refining the specification and expanding the character set.
Internet Connectivity
Network Startup Resource Center (NSRC)
Database about international networking developments and Internet connectivity providers, with major emphasis on countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Oceania. Information is available on country-by-country basis and includes connectivity providers, networking infrastructure, and other country-specific information.
Connectivity Table from University of Wisconsin's FTP server.
Lists entities with and without international network connectivity. Shows countries (with ISO two letter country code (ISO 3166)) which have:
international IP Internet links
domestic UUCP sites which are connected to the Global Multiprotocol Open Internet, and
domestic FIDONET sites which are connected to the Global Multiprotocol Open Internet.
Connectivity Maps
Internet Hosts Map
Shows the millions of Internet hosts worldwide as of January 1999.
http://www.isoc.org/internet/infrastructure/
As the Internet grows in popularity (and usefulness?), choosing the right connection for accessing it is becoming a very important decision at many nonprofits. While modems still provide many smaller nonprofits with their crawling connection, DSL, cable, ISDN, and T1 are introducing many organizations to the joys of high-speed access.
Speed
When you read an ad that says: "Our Connection Provides You With an Amazing and Unbelievable 10 Megs Per Second Download Speed," you should be amazed, but maybe not as much as you think. Some time back, a quick marketing person decided that Internet connection speed would be better described in bits, not the bytes usually used to describe disk size and RAM space. So that "unbelievable" 10 MegaBITS per second is actually about 1.25 megaBYTES per second. This article, not to confuse things further, will continue to discuss Internet speed in bits per second. So, don't jump out of your skin the next time you read about another "unbelievable" download speed. Simply divide by 8.
Types of Access: Dial-Up vs. "Always On"
Anyone who has used a modem knows the problems associated with dial-up access. Even if you just want to check your email for one minute, you have to wait a couple minutes for your modem to dial a number and establish a connection to your ISP. It often takes less time to check your email than it does to connect the Internet! While this isn't a major problem if you rarely use the Internet, it can be a major annoyance if you use it heavily. For heavy users, a dedicated, "always on" connection such as DSL or T1 is the better alternative. Not only does such a connection provide access "on demand," it is also faster and easier to share with a large group of users.
Dial-Up Connection - 56K
Bottom line -- modem speeds have pretty much hit the speed limit with 56K modems. In fact, 56K is a little misleading. Due to FCC regulations, the maximum transmission is more around 53K. If your organization needs a faster connection, you will have to go with a digital connection (i.e. xDSL, ISDN, etc.). However, if you find the right ISP, and your nonprofit doesn't have high access demands, modems may more than fulfill your needs.
http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/connections/archives/page10224.cfm
As said above, it is better to use DSL than Dial-up and it is a good thing that the university's Internet connection was DSL.
Technology
Internet Rocket Homepageware 5.0
Internet Rocket is a simple tool for speeding up an Internet connection. Use the easy to follow wizard to optimize the registry for your Internet connection. DNS Rocket will cache server information on hard drive to speed the Internet even more.
InternetVelocity 1.5
InternetVelocity is a powerful utility that dramatically increases the speed that you surf the web by configuring key TCP/IP parameters, filtering Pop-up and Banner Ads, and prefetching pages before you need them! Surf two, or three times faster!
Accelerweb 2.0
Welcome to Accelerweb! Accelerweb is the latest in simple Internet acceleration technology. Accelerweb caches DNS settings to the hosts file. Accelerweb will store IP address/domain information in a local cache called the "Hosts" file.
http://fast-internet.softplatz.net/
Infrastracture
In information technology and on the Internet, infrastructure is the physical hardware used to interconnect computers and users. Infrastructure includes the transmission media, including telephone lines, cable television lines, and satellites and antennas, and also the routers, aggregators, repeaters, and other devices that control transmission paths. Infrastructure also includes the software used to send, receive, and manage the signals that are transmitted.
In some usages, infrastructure refers to interconnecting hardware and software and not to computers and other devices that are interconnected. However, to some information technology users, infrastructure is viewed as everything that supports the flow and processing of information.
Infrastructure companies play a significant part in evolving the Internet, both in terms of where the interrconnections are placed and made accessible and in terms of how much information can be carried how quickly.
http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid80_gci212346,00.html
As from what I know, the university is using fiber-optic cable, which is a glass or plastic fiber that carries light along its length. Fiber optics is the overlap of applied science and engineering concerned with the design and application of optical fibers. Optical fibers are widely used in fiber-optic communications, which permits transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths (data rates) than other forms of communications. Fibers are used instead of metal wires because signals travel along them with less loss, and they are also immune to electromagnetic interference. Fibers are also used for illumination, and are wrapped in bundles so they can be used to carry images, thus allowing viewing in tight spaces. Specially designed fibers are used for a variety of other applications, including sensors and fiber lasers.
Light is kept in the core of the optical fiber by total internal reflection. This causes the fiber to act as a waveguide. Fibers which support many propagation paths or transverse modes are called multi-mode fibers (MMF), while those which can only support a single mode are called single-mode fibers (SMF). Multi-mode fibers generally have a larger core diameter, and are used for short-distance communication links and for applications where high power must be transmitted. Single-mode fibers are used for most communication links longer than 550 meters (1,800 ft).
Joining lengths of optical fiber is more complex than joining electrical wire or cable. The ends of the fibers must be carefully cleaved, and then spliced together either mechanically or by fusing them together with an electric arc. Special connectors are used to make removable connections.
Fiber optic cables can transfer data through light and it is more reliable compared to UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) or STP (Shielded Twisted Pair) cable, since it is more protected from disturbances and noises.
The only thing is, fiber optic cable cost you more when talking about expense and it is more sensitive, when cutting, so it needs a specialized cutter.
All in all I am contented with the Internet connection of the University, except for the fact that the Internet connection sometimes, time out.
Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) Committee
Working group to study making domain names available in character sets other than ASCII.
MINC (Multilingual Internet Names Consortium)
A non-profit, non-governmental, international organization. It focuses on the promotion of multilingualisation of Internet names, including Internet domain names and keywords, internationalization of Internet names standards and protocols, technical coordination and liaison with other international bodies.
CNNIC (China Network Information Center)
(site is in Chinese)
KRNIC (Korea Network Information Center)
Established the system for managing Internet address resources in Korea.
TWNIC (Taiwan Network Infomation Center)
The unique neutral and non-profit organization that takes charge of the domain name registration and IP address allocation in Taiwan.
The Unicode Consortium
Responsible for defining the behavior and relationships between Unicode characters, and providing technical information to implementers. The Consortium cooperates with ISO in refining the specification and expanding the character set.
Internet Connectivity
Network Startup Resource Center (NSRC)
Database about international networking developments and Internet connectivity providers, with major emphasis on countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Oceania. Information is available on country-by-country basis and includes connectivity providers, networking infrastructure, and other country-specific information.
Connectivity Table from University of Wisconsin's FTP server.
Lists entities with and without international network connectivity. Shows countries (with ISO two letter country code (ISO 3166)) which have:
international IP Internet links
domestic UUCP sites which are connected to the Global Multiprotocol Open Internet, and
domestic FIDONET sites which are connected to the Global Multiprotocol Open Internet.
Connectivity Maps
Internet Hosts Map
Shows the millions of Internet hosts worldwide as of January 1999.
http://www.isoc.org/internet/infrastructure/
As the Internet grows in popularity (and usefulness?), choosing the right connection for accessing it is becoming a very important decision at many nonprofits. While modems still provide many smaller nonprofits with their crawling connection, DSL, cable, ISDN, and T1 are introducing many organizations to the joys of high-speed access.
Speed
When you read an ad that says: "Our Connection Provides You With an Amazing and Unbelievable 10 Megs Per Second Download Speed," you should be amazed, but maybe not as much as you think. Some time back, a quick marketing person decided that Internet connection speed would be better described in bits, not the bytes usually used to describe disk size and RAM space. So that "unbelievable" 10 MegaBITS per second is actually about 1.25 megaBYTES per second. This article, not to confuse things further, will continue to discuss Internet speed in bits per second. So, don't jump out of your skin the next time you read about another "unbelievable" download speed. Simply divide by 8.
Types of Access: Dial-Up vs. "Always On"
Anyone who has used a modem knows the problems associated with dial-up access. Even if you just want to check your email for one minute, you have to wait a couple minutes for your modem to dial a number and establish a connection to your ISP. It often takes less time to check your email than it does to connect the Internet! While this isn't a major problem if you rarely use the Internet, it can be a major annoyance if you use it heavily. For heavy users, a dedicated, "always on" connection such as DSL or T1 is the better alternative. Not only does such a connection provide access "on demand," it is also faster and easier to share with a large group of users.
Dial-Up Connection - 56K
Bottom line -- modem speeds have pretty much hit the speed limit with 56K modems. In fact, 56K is a little misleading. Due to FCC regulations, the maximum transmission is more around 53K. If your organization needs a faster connection, you will have to go with a digital connection (i.e. xDSL, ISDN, etc.). However, if you find the right ISP, and your nonprofit doesn't have high access demands, modems may more than fulfill your needs.
http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/connections/archives/page10224.cfm
As said above, it is better to use DSL than Dial-up and it is a good thing that the university's Internet connection was DSL.
Technology
Internet Rocket Homepageware 5.0
Internet Rocket is a simple tool for speeding up an Internet connection. Use the easy to follow wizard to optimize the registry for your Internet connection. DNS Rocket will cache server information on hard drive to speed the Internet even more.
InternetVelocity 1.5
InternetVelocity is a powerful utility that dramatically increases the speed that you surf the web by configuring key TCP/IP parameters, filtering Pop-up and Banner Ads, and prefetching pages before you need them! Surf two, or three times faster!
Accelerweb 2.0
Welcome to Accelerweb! Accelerweb is the latest in simple Internet acceleration technology. Accelerweb caches DNS settings to the hosts file. Accelerweb will store IP address/domain information in a local cache called the "Hosts" file.
http://fast-internet.softplatz.net/
Infrastracture
In information technology and on the Internet, infrastructure is the physical hardware used to interconnect computers and users. Infrastructure includes the transmission media, including telephone lines, cable television lines, and satellites and antennas, and also the routers, aggregators, repeaters, and other devices that control transmission paths. Infrastructure also includes the software used to send, receive, and manage the signals that are transmitted.
In some usages, infrastructure refers to interconnecting hardware and software and not to computers and other devices that are interconnected. However, to some information technology users, infrastructure is viewed as everything that supports the flow and processing of information.
Infrastructure companies play a significant part in evolving the Internet, both in terms of where the interrconnections are placed and made accessible and in terms of how much information can be carried how quickly.
http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid80_gci212346,00.html
As from what I know, the university is using fiber-optic cable, which is a glass or plastic fiber that carries light along its length. Fiber optics is the overlap of applied science and engineering concerned with the design and application of optical fibers. Optical fibers are widely used in fiber-optic communications, which permits transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths (data rates) than other forms of communications. Fibers are used instead of metal wires because signals travel along them with less loss, and they are also immune to electromagnetic interference. Fibers are also used for illumination, and are wrapped in bundles so they can be used to carry images, thus allowing viewing in tight spaces. Specially designed fibers are used for a variety of other applications, including sensors and fiber lasers.
Light is kept in the core of the optical fiber by total internal reflection. This causes the fiber to act as a waveguide. Fibers which support many propagation paths or transverse modes are called multi-mode fibers (MMF), while those which can only support a single mode are called single-mode fibers (SMF). Multi-mode fibers generally have a larger core diameter, and are used for short-distance communication links and for applications where high power must be transmitted. Single-mode fibers are used for most communication links longer than 550 meters (1,800 ft).
Joining lengths of optical fiber is more complex than joining electrical wire or cable. The ends of the fibers must be carefully cleaved, and then spliced together either mechanically or by fusing them together with an electric arc. Special connectors are used to make removable connections.
Fiber optic cables can transfer data through light and it is more reliable compared to UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) or STP (Shielded Twisted Pair) cable, since it is more protected from disturbances and noises.
The only thing is, fiber optic cable cost you more when talking about expense and it is more sensitive, when cutting, so it needs a specialized cutter.
All in all I am contented with the Internet connection of the University, except for the fact that the Internet connection sometimes, time out.
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