INTERNET RESEARCH FOR BUSINESS PRELIM

LESSON 1: GETTING TO KNOW THE INTERNET

INTERNET
 Also called Net-Is a worldwide collection of networks that links millions of businesses,
government agencies, educational institutions, and individuals.
 Consists of many local, regional, national, and international networks. Although each of
these networks on the internet is owned by a public or private organization, no single
organization owns a control the Internet

NETWORK- is a collection of computer and devices connected together via communication

devices and media such as modems, cables, telephone lines, and satellite.

 Each organization on the internet is responsible only for maintaining its own network.
 Today, more than 459 million users around the world connect to the Internet for a
variety of reason.

SOME OF THE USES OF THE INTERNET ARE AS FOLLOWS:

 Access a wealth of information, news, and research materials.
 Communication with others around the world.
 Bank and invest.
 Shop for goods and services.
 Download and listen to music or download and watch movies.
 Take courses of entertainment and leisure such as online games magazines, and vacation
planning guides.
 Access other computers and exchange files.
 Share and edit document with others.
 Provide information, photographs, audio clip, or video clips.

LESSON 2: HISTORY OF THE INTERNET

HISTORY OF INTERNET
 Mid 1960’s during the Cold War, it becomes apparent that there was a need for a
bombproof communication system. A concept was devised to link computers together
throughout the country
 The Internet is designed in part to provide a communication network that would work
even if some of the sites were destroyed by nuclear attack. If the most direct route was
not available, routers would direct traffic around the network via alternate routes

 The early Internet was used by computer experts, engineers, scientists, and librarians.
There was nothing friendly about it. There were no home or office personal computers
in those days, and anyone who used it, whether a computer professional or an engineer
or scientist or librarian, had to learn to use a very complex system
 At first the ARPANET included just 4 computers
University of Utah
3 in California (at UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and the Stanford Research Institute)

1970- ARPANET added 3 computers in Massachusetts at MIT, BBN and Rand

1971- ARPANET added more computers in California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio and
Illinois, to make a total of 15 computers

1972- ARPANET expanded to more parts of the country, so 2000 people were using ARPANET
and they were starting to have fun. Since electronic mail was added to ARPANET that year

1973- E-mail becomes so popular that 75% of all ARPANET transmission were e-mails; and
research institution in England and Norway joined ARPANET, so ARPANET become international

1983- Finally ARPANET become too big to be managed simply. The military divide it into 2
network called MILNET, was strictly for use by military personnel. The other network called ‘’the
new smaller ARPANET” was for civilians use.

1986- National Science Foundation (NSF) wanted to let researchers share 5 supercomputer by
using ARPANET but NSF quickly changed its mind and decided to create its own network, called
NSFNET. Like ARPANET, NSFNET used TCP/IP and was ARPANET- compatible, so NSFNET become
part of the Internet
1990- ARPANET shutdown permanently. ARPA which had created ARPANET, lived on but under
its new name: the Defense Research Project Agency (DARPA)

1993- Development graphical browser Mosaic by Marc Andreessen and his team National
Center for Supercomputing Application (NCSA) gave the protocol its big boos

1994- 600 website places on the Web that provided Web Info. At the end of 1994 the number of
websites shot up to 10,000. In later, years the number of websites continued to climb

MARC ANDREESSEN

 Microsoft declared war and developed its Microsoft Internet Explorer

June 1998- release of Windows 98 with the Microsoft browser well integrated into the desktop
shows Bill Gates determination to capitalize the enormous growth of the Internet

BILL GATES

LESSON 3: HOW DOES THE INTERNET WORK?

SERVICE PROVIDERS (ISP)- is a business that has a permanent Internet connection and offers
Temporary Connection to individuals and companies free or for fee

POINT OF PRESENCE (POP)- is an access point on the Internet

TWO TYPES OF ISP

 REGIONAL ISP- usually provides access to the Internet through one or more telephone
numbers local to a specific geographical area
 NATIONAL ISP- is a larger business that provides local telephone numbers in major cities
and towns nationwide. Examples of national ISP are AT&T and EarthLink

 An ONLINE SERVICE PROVIDER (OSP) supplies Internet access, but an OSP also has many
members-only features that offer a variety of special content and services such as news;
 weather; legal information; financial data; hardware and software guides; games; and
travel guides. The two most popular OSP’s are America Online (AOL) and The Microsoft
Network (MSN)
 A WIRELESS SERVICE PROVIDER (WSP) is a company that provides wireless access to
users with wireless modems or Web-enabled handled computers or devices. Examples
of WSP include GoAmerica Communications, and SprintPCS

CONNECTING TO THE INTERNET

 With dial-up access, you use a computer, a modem, and a regular telephone line to dial
into an ISP or OPS. Dial-up access provides an easy and inexpensive way for users to
connect to the Internet. A dial-up connection however, is a slow-speed technology

DSL (Digital Subscriber Line)- provides high speed connections over a regular copper telephone
line

CABLE MODEM- provides high-speed Internet connections through the cable television
network. These services cost about twice as much as dial-up access

LESSON 4: HOW DATA TRAVELS USING THE INTERNET

SERVER- is a computer that manages the resources on a network and provides a central storage
area for resources such as programs and data

CLIENT- is a computer that can access the contents of a storage area on a server

HOST COMPUTER- is a client that can access files and services on a variety of servers

INTERNET BACKBONE- is a main communication lines that carry the heaviest amount of traffic
on the Internet

INTERNET ADDRESSES

IP ADDRESS- short for Internet protocol address, is a number that uniquely identifies each
computer or device connected to the internet

 The ID Address consist of four groups of numbers, each separated by a period. The
number in each group is between 0 and 255
 For example, the numbers 199.95.72.10 are an IP address. In general, the first portion of
each IP address identifies the network and the last portion identifies the specific
computer

DOMAIN NAME- is the text version of an IP address

TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN (TLD)- abbreviation identifies the type of organization that is associated
with the domain

DOT COM- is the name sometimes used to describe an organization that has TLD of com

INTERNET CORPORATION FOR ASSIGNED NAMES AND NUMBERS (ICANN pronounced EYE-
can) is the group that assigns and controls TLDs

TOP LEVEL DOMAIN

Original TLD Abbreviation Type of Domain
.com Commercial organizations, businesses, and companies
.edu Educational institutions
.gov Government agencies
.mil Military organizations
.net Network providers
.org Non-profit organizations

Newer TLD Abbreviation Type of Domain

.museu Accredited museum

m
.biz Business
.info Information service
.name Individuals and families
.pro Credentialed professional such as doctor or lawyer
.aero Air transport Company
.coop Business cooperative such as credit unions and rural electric coops