The Internet: The Ultimate Network

5. THE INTERNET: THE ULTIMATE NETWORK

The Internet, currently an essential part of a fast-growing number of areas of life, has truly changed the world. Purely a network and entirely based upon OSI Reference Model compliant protocols, the Internet takes everything discussed here and scales it unimaginably. The success of the internet truly shows the flexibility and power of concepts that, when compared in this context, seem relatively simple.

Due to its scale and utilization of many different technologies and concepts, the design of the internet can not be credited to one particular individual. Rather, over time many researchers, students, corporate organizations, and individuals have contributed many technologies and ideas to form what the Internet is today. While the modern day typical internet user thinks of the internet as being web pages and email, in reality the name 'Internet' is referring simply the system on top of which web browsing, email, and innumerable other communication systems operate. The Internet, simply put, is a global network of networks. It is unquestionably the largest switched/routed IP network in existence.