The Internet, and several Web-based services available to people today, have completely transformed our ways of living, for probably forever. A vast majority of us can now effortlessly work from the comfort of our homes, thanks to secure broadband connections, especially fiber internet. We can bank, shop, and even renew our road tax, TV license, and motor insurance online. We can stream live Internet TV and enjoy radio broadcasts, play games, download our favorite movies and songs, keep abreast of the latest news and sport, stay on top of weather updates, book a vacation, get in touch with long-lost friends anytime, and from anywhere via internet technology.
Internet Technology: What’s All the Hype About?
The Internet is a cluster of computers that communicate using a set of standard protocols. Of course, over a million computers are present in the internet network, making it one the biggest means of communication. The ability of the internet to send data and information through different systems and servers is called Internet Technology. In other words, it is a set of technologies ranging from browsers to network protocols associated with the Internet that have been designed to support Internet operations.
Significance of Internet Technology
Internet Technology has great significance in multiple industries as it lets people communicate and interact with each other within seconds through advanced technology, with little to no regard to location or distance.
The Internet is basically a huge database where an assorted variety of information can be transferred from one place to another. It can be actively sent in the form of document loading and file sharing, and it can also be passively sent in the shape of non-interactive blogs and websites. Internet technology has provided a route to a wealth of information freely available to anyone who can access the internet. It has enabled people who were attuned to libraries and textbooks to learn anything from experienced professionals located in any part of the world through a computer, right from the comfort of their homes.
The Internet Technology: a Network of Networks
The Internet fundamentally consists of a great number of Local Area Networks (LANs) that are connected to each other. These LANs are technically incompatible as they use different communications protocols. Also, most of them were developed only for local area networks, and hence they do not perform well for bigger networks when the devices they connect with have scarce network bandwidth or are separated by great distances.
An important term related to internet technology that you need to know about is TCP/IP.
TCP/IP
This is the name of a layered set of protocols created to work well both in LAN (local area networks) as well as in WAN (wide area networks). TCP/IP is the technology that makes the internet work. Also, with time it is replacing proprietary LAN technology in almost every computer network all around the world.
Another odd thing is that the definition of a protocol is also given as the binary equivalent of an abstract computer program or software. So, since the protocol is nothing but the application programming interface or the method of operation of computer programs, it is clearly given that the application or the web page that we are dealing with is merely a protocol or a program. However, there are still some things that we might want to do in this chapter such as trace the origins of the term, how the protocols and IP addresses were defined or how to use the internet technology for instance, the proxy server.
The Basics of Internet Technology chapter is also very brief and direct, because there is very little discussion on how to use or how to find web pages except for a brief mention of HTTP and curl. Also, the only real example given is curl which is not even described in the text. Some may find this to be a flaw because many people will already know how to use curl, even if they don’t know how the protocol was defined. This is one minor gripe of mine, though it does not take anything away from the book. Overall, I think the book is good and a quick read for anyone who doesn’t need to understand the inner workings of the internet and all its various layers.
The Future of Internet Technology
Internet technology is continuously improving and has enough potential to escalate the information highway that it has developed. With the state-of-the-art technologies powering the Internet, broadband speeds are getting much faster with more valuable information available online than it was ever before. Internet technology has evolved and will continue to evolve.
There You Are!
So, if you want to make the most out of Internet technology and wish to enjoy both connectivity and relaxation experience from the comfort of your home, it is high time you invest in a good internet service provider. For bundle deals to help you unwind after a long tiring day, we would recommend you sign up for Spectrum bundles today. Happy browsing!
