Chapter 1

TCP/IP, The Internet,Intranets and Extranets

A Short History of the Internet

Some parts of the following explanation have been simplified. As a result a few sections will not be as detailed as some readers would like. I make no apologies for this. There are many excellent textbooks that cover the fine detail. The purpose of this book is to provide a comprehensive “big picture” of the Internet and the technologies that underpin it.

What is all the noise about? Within the last few years everyone has been talking about the World Wide Web, and wide area networks. It seems that only a few months ago the information technology department was constantly pushing for local area networks and before that the mainframe always needed expanding. ...

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