Telecommunications Essentials, Second Edition: The Complete Global Source

Chapter 8. The Internet and IP Infrastructures

This chapter explores the Internet, including how today’s Internet actually works, the protocols—such as Internet Protocol (IP)—that make the Internet what it is, how addressing works on the Internet, the organization and characteristics of the variety of service providers, and how IP QoS can be used to ensure maximum network performance. It also takes a glimpse at some of the exciting developments that spell the future of the Internet.

Internet Basics

Figure 8.1 is an astounding graph that speaks to the pace of Internet development. It shows the number of years it took several technologies to reach 50 million users worldwide. As you can see, whereas it took 74 years for the telephone to reach ...