Accounting Information Systems: The Processes and Controls, 2nd Edition

THE PHYSICAL STRUCTURE AND STANDARDS OF THE INTERNET (STUDY OBJECTIVE 3)

THE NETWORK

Exhibit 14-3 shows the types of organizations that make up the interconnected networks of the Internet. The Internet includes backbone providers, network access points, regional Internet service providers (ISPs), local ISPs, and Internet subscribers. The Internet is a hierarchical arrangement: There are a few large backbone providers, many more regional and local ISPs, and millions of Internet subscribers. Internet subscribers are the individual users of the Internet.

A backbone provider is an organization which supplies access to high-speed transmission lines that make up the main network lines of the Internet. Much like the way that your spinal bones, or backbone, support all the skeletal systems of your body, the Internet backbone is the main trunk line of the Internet. The backbone has extremely high capacity and high-speed network lines. The actual speed and capacity of the backbone lines continually increase as the technology is upgraded, and the speed of the U.S. backbone is 1 trillion bytes per second. This means that one trillion bits of data could be transmitted over the network lines in one second. The backbone providers connect to each other either directly through private lines or through network access points (NAPs). Major backbone providers in the United States are companies such as Sprint, AT&T, and UUNET.

Regional ISPs connect to the backbone through lines that have less speed ...