The Internet, Intranet, and Extranet

Internet

• Worldwide collection of millions of computers and networks

• Derived from the term “internetworking”

• No one actually owns or runs the Internet

• Started in 1969 as a U.S. Department of Defense project called Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET)

• Evolved into National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) in 1987

Internet backbone

• Foundation network linked with fiber-optic cables

• Can support very high bandwidth

• Several private companies operate their own Internet backbones

• Connect network access points (NAPs)

World Wide Web (WWW, or “the Web”)

• Graphical interface to the largely text-based Internet in 1989

Hypermedia

• Documents can include embedded references to audio, text, images, video, and other documents

Hypertext

• Embedded references in hypermedia documents

• Links users can click to follow a particular thread

Domain Name

• Unique identifiers of computer or network addresses on the Internet

Internet Protocol (IP) address

• 208.77.188.166

• Assigned by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

Domain Name System (DNS)

• Domain names are converted to IP addresses

Uniform resource locators (URLs)

• Identify a Web page; the address of a document or site on the Internet

• Suffix indicating the top-level domain (TLD) it belongs to

TLD

• Organizational (gTLDs)

  • tech for technology-related websites

  • .travel for travel industry websites

  • .gov for government-related websites

  • .edu for educational institutions

• Country-code (ccTLDs)

  • .us for the United States

  • .jp for Japan

  • .ph for the Philippines

  • .fr for France

  • .de for Germany

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)

• language used to create web pages

Types of Internet Connections

1. Symmetric DSL (SDSL)

Up to 1.5 Mbps in both directions

1. Asymmetric DSL (ADSL)

Upstream rates 3.5 Mbps

Downstream rates typically 24 Mbps

1. Very High Speed DSL (VDSL)

Downstream/ upstream transmission rate up to 100 Mbps over short distances

1. T1 or T3 lines

Equivalent of 24 conventional telephone lines

Navigational tools

• Used to travel from site-to-site or to “surf” the Internet

Search engines

• Give you an easy way to look up information and resources on the Internet

Directories

• Indexes of information based on keywords in documents

• Make it possible for search engines to find what you’re looking for

Graphical Web browsers

• Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE), Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari

• Menu options

• View browsing history

• Bookmarking

• Setting viewing preferences

Search engine

• Google.com or Ask.com

• Information system that enables users to retrieve data from the Web by searching for information using search terms

• Three-step process of Search Engines:

  1. Crawling the Web

  2. Indexing

  3. The search process

Directories

• Organize information into categories

• Types of Directories:

  • Automated (crawler-based)

  • Human powered

A new search platform from Microsoft

• Bing.com

• “Decision engine”

Internet Services

Most services made possible by the TCP suite of protocols:

• Simple Message Transfer Protocol (SMTP)

• Post Office Protocol (POP)

Popular services

• E-mail, newsgroups, discussion groups, Internet Relay Chat, instant messaging, and

E-mail

• One of the most widely used services on the Internet

Main types

• Web-based e-mail

• Client-based e-mail

E-mail programs include:

• Folders for organization

• Address books and distribution groups

• Spell checkers

• Delivery notification

Discussion groups

• Formed for people to exchange opinions and ideas on a specific topic

• Group members can post messages or articles that others in the group can read

Newsgroups

• Typically more general and can be established for any topic

• Allow people to get together for fun or for business purposes

Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

• Enables users in chat rooms to exchange text messages with people in other locations in real time

Instant messaging (IM)

• Service for communicating with others via the Internet in a private “chat room”

• Many IM applications are available

Internet Telephony

• Using the Internet rather than the telephone network to exchange spoken conversations

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

• Requires high-speed Internet connection and microphone or headset

• International and other long-distance calls are much less expensive

• Used to route traffic starting and ending at public switched telephone network phones

• Call quality has been improving

Web Applications

• Services and products for a wide range of customers at more competitive prices and with increased convenience

• Can be used with minimum costs

1. Tourism and Travel

   • Travel Web sites allow customers to book tickets for plane trips and cruises, etc.

2. Publishing

   • Major publishers in the United States and Europe offer Web sites with:

     • Descriptions of forthcoming books

     • Sample chapters

     • Online ordering

     • Include search features

3. Higher Education

   • Most universities have Web sites offering:

     • Information about departments, programs, faculty, and academic resource

   • Virtual tours of the campus

   • Online degree programs

     • Possible for students who couldn’t attend school otherwise to enroll in classes

4. Real Estate

   • Real estate Web sites

     • Provide millions of up-to-date listings of home

     • Buyers and sellers can:

       • Review neighborhoods, schools, and real estate price

     • Customers can:

       • Find realtors and brokerage firms and learn home-buying tips

1. Employment

   • Services available:

     • Expert advice and tools for managing your career

     • Resume assistance, including tools for creating professional-looking resumes

     • Job search tutorials

     • Posting and distributing resumes

     • Job alerts

     • Searches by company, industry, region, or category

     • Announcements of job fairs

     • Career tests to see what career is right for you

     • Salary calculators

1. Financial Institutions

   • Online banking services

   • E-mail to communicate with customers and send account statements and

   • financial reports

   • Helps banks reduce the time and costs of communicating via phone

   • Consumer acceptance has been slow

   • Banking services available via the Internet

2. Software Distribution

   • Vendors distribute software on the Internet as well as drivers and patches

     • Antivirus updates

     • Small, fast, and easy to download

   • Large programs not distributed via Internet

   • Online copyright-protection schemes

3. Healthcare

   •  Possible benefits of Internet use in healthcare

Store patient records on the Internet

• Accessible from one central location

• Potential problems with information privacy, accuracy, and currency

• Telemedicine (http://telemedtoday.com)

  • Enables medical professionals to conduct remote consultation, diagnosis, and conferencing

• Telepresence surgery

• Online prescription drugs

1. Politics

Politics Most political candidates now make use of websites for announcing platforms, publicizing voting records, notices of appearances and debates, fundraising, possible use for legislators voting online, and security issues.

The Internet in 2020

More people will use it

it will be more geographically dispersed, it will be more a network of devices, it will carry much more content, it will be wireless, cloud computing will continue to grow, it will be greener, network management will be more automated, connectivity will become less important, and there will be more hackers.

Intranets

• A network within an organization that uses internet protocols and technologies for collecting, storing, and disseminating useful information that supports business activities.

• Also called "corporate portals", they are for internal use by employees.

• Many companies also allow trusted business partners to access their intranets.

•  It is different from a LAN and access must be defined and limited carefully.

The Internet versus Intranets

Applications of an Intranet

1. Human resources management,

2. sales and marketing,

3. production and operations,

4. accounting and finance.

It helps organizations move from a calendar- or schedule-based document publishing strategy to one that’s based on events or needs, reducing the costs and time of document production.

Extranets

• A secure network using the Internet and web technologies to connect intranets of business partners.

• A type of interorganizational system (IOS), it includes electronic funds transfer (EFT), electronic data interchange (EDI),

•  DMZ which refers to the demilitarized zone, an area of the network that’s separate from the organization’s LAN.

Advantages of extranets include coordination, feedback, consumer satisfaction, cost reduction, and expedited communication.

Web 2.0 is a trend of web applications that are more interactive than traditional web applications, focusing on collaboration or e-collaboration.

Web 3.0 provides context for searching online information and focuses on “intelligent” web applications using various applications of artificial intelligence technologies.

Blogs

• Short for “weblog”,

• it is a journal or newsletter that’s updated frequently and intended for the general public.

• Many sites offer free space for blogs and even include posting photos, such as Blogger.com.

• Blogs on websites dedicated to a particular topic or organization are updated with the latest news and views.

Wikis

• Allow users to add, delete, and sometimes modify content. An example is the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.org. Information users can also be information providers.

• There is an issue with the quality of information. Wikis have caught on at many companies.

Social Networking Sites

• A broad class of websites and services that allow users to connect with friends, family, and colleagues online.

• Popular social networking sites include Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn, which are also popular for business use. Twitter is a platform where responses or comments are no longer than 140 characters.

RSS Feeds

• “Really simple syndication” is a fast, easy way to distribute web content in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format.

• XML is a flexible method for creating common formats for information, with tags representing the kind of content being posted and transmitted, defining data with a context.

Podcasting

• An electronic audio file posted on the web for users to download to their mobile devices.

• It has a specific URL and is defined with an XML item tag, usually collected by an “aggregator” like iTunes or iPodder. Users can subscribe to a podcast.

The Internet2

• A collaborative effort involving more than 200 U.S. universities and corporations to develop advanced internet technologies and applications for higher education and academic research.

• Gigapop is a local connection point-of-presence whose main function is the exchange of I2 traffic with a specified bandwidth, relying on the NSFNET and MCI’s very high-speed backbone network service.

Applications of Internet2 include learningware, digital libraries, teleimmersion, and virtual laboratories.