UNIT 1 NETWORKING AND INTERNET 1.0 INTRODUCTION and 1.1 OBJECTIVES

 1.0 INTRODUCTION

As discussed in the previous blocks, the initial computers were designed as a machine that could perform monotonous arithmetic calculations with ease and lot of accuracy. The computing power of the computers kept on increasing every year while during the same time the technologies of message transfer were advancing. During the era of 1960-70, the computers were becoming faster, cheaper but more powerful and smaller in size. The number of application of the Computer also kept growing, however, the main breakthrough that enhanced the use of Computer was the advent of network of interconnected computers. The Computer Network made various computers to share information at a very high speed.

In the year 1960, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the U.S. Department of Defence and researchers from Universities and research centres developed a network called the ARPANET. The main goal of ARPANET was to share data and processing time over a set of computers connected through telephone lines and satellite links. This led to creation of one of most widely used network of networks – the Internet. The Internet could carry any digital signals such as text, graphics, sound, video and animation. Today, Internet has thousands of networks and millions of users, with the numbers expanding daily. This unit introduces you to some of the basic fundamentals of Computer Networks and the Internet.

1.1 OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit, you should be able to:

 define the basic concepts of networking;

 discuss the basic models of networks;

 explain different types of networks;

 differentiate among different networking devices;

 explain the addresses used on the Internet; and

 explain the different advantages of networks.