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... response, government and other users have
tried in recent years to expand the Net itself. Once, the main Net
"backbone" in the U.S. moved data at 56,000 bits per second. That proved
too slow for the ever increasing amounts of data being sent over it, and
in recent years the maximum speed was increased to 1.5 million and then
45 million bits per second. Even before the Net was able to reach that
latter speed, however, Net experts were already figuring out ways to pump
data at speeds of up to 2 billion bits per second -- fast enough to send
the entire Encyclopedia Britannica across the country in just one or two
seconds. Another major change has been the development of commercial
services that provide internetworking services at speeds comparable to
those of the government system. In fact, by mid-1994, the U.S.
government will remove itself from any day-to-day control over the
workings of the Net, as regional and national providers continue to
expand.
1.6 HOW IT WORKS
The worldwide Net is actually a complex web of smaller regional
networks. To understand it, picture a modern road network of trans-
continental superhighways connecting large cities. From these large cities
come smaller freeways and parkways to link together small towns, whose
residents travel on slower, narrow residential ways.
The Net superhighway is the high-speed Internet. Connected to web design manchester
this are computers that use a particular system of transferring data
at high speeds. In the U.S., the major Internet "backbone"
theoretically can move data at rates of web design glasgow 45 million bits per second
(compare this to the average home modem, which has a top speed of roughly
9,600 to 14,400 bits per second).
Connected to the backbone web design manchester computers are smaller networks serving
particular geographic regions, which generally move data at speeds
around 1.5 million bits per second.
Feeding off these in turn are even smaller networks or individual
computers.
Unlike with commercial networks such as CompuServe or Prodigy, there
is no one central computer or computers web design manchester running the Internet -- its
resources are to be found among thousands of individual computers.
This
is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. The approach
means it is virtually impossible for the entire Net to crash at once --
even if one computer shuts down, the rest of web design manchester the network stays up. The
design also reduces the costs for an individual or organization to get
onto the network.
web design manchester But thousands of connected computers can also make it web design manchester
difficult to navigate the Net and find what you want -- especially as
different computers may have different commands for plumbing their
resources. It is only recently that Net users have begun to develop the
sorts of navigational tools and "maps" that will let neophytes get around
without getting lost.
Nobody really knows how many computers and networks actually make
up this Net. Some estimates say there are now as many as 5,000
networks connecting nearly 2 million computers and more than 15 million
people around the world. Whatever the actual numbers, however, it is
clear they are only increasing.
The Net is more than just a technological marvel. It is human
communication at its most fundamental level. The pace may be a little
quicker when the messages race around the world in a few seconds, but
it's not much different from a large and interesting party. You'll see
things in cyberspace that will make you laugh; you'll see things that
will anger you. You'll read silly little snippets and new ideas that
make you think. You'll make new friends and meet people you wish would
just go away.
Major network providers continue to work on ways to make it
easier for users of one network to web design development uk communicate with those of another.
Work is underway on a system for providing a universal "white pages"
in which you could look up somebody's electronic-mail address, for
example. This connectivity trend will likely speed up in coming years
as users begin to demand seamless network access, much as telephone
users can now dial almost anywhere in the world without worrying about
how many phone companies actually have to connect their calls.
And today, the links grow ever closer between the Internet and such
commercial networks as CompuServe and web design manchester Prodigy, whose users can now
exchange electronic mail with their Internet friends.
Some commercial
providers, such as Delphi and America Online, are working to bring their
subscribers direct access to Internet services.
And as it becomes easier to use, more and more people will join
this worldwide community we call the Net.
Being connected to the Net takes more than just reading
conferences and logging messages to your computer; it takes asking and
answering questions, exchanging opinions -- getting involved.
If you choose to go forward, to use and contribute, you will become
a citizen of web design development uk Cyberspace. If you're reading these words for the first
time, this may seem like an amusing but unlikely notion -- that one
could "inhabit" a place without physical space. But put a mark beside
these words. Join the Net and actively ... |
