The History of Networking Technologies - Essay Example

?The History of Networking Technologies Computer networking is a discipline dealing with the different technologies that are involved in network application and establishment of a computer network, or a set of computers connected to facilitate exchange of information (Cassel and Austing, 2000, p.8). The history and development of the networking technologies is important in understanding the different stages and applications available today and in projecting of technologies that will be available in the future. The precursors of the networking technologies can be found during the time when the need for storage and retrieval of significant amount of data and information in different fields of profession required a faster way of data exchange and sharing. The said necessity can be attributed to the advent of the computer technology since stored data in different units of are needed to be shared within a local are or to another remote located. The said need that been realized through the onset of the different networking technologies that made data management faster and more efficient (Morley and Parker, 2009, p.322). The study is aimed to present the history of networking technologies by discussing the chronological development of the different systems that contributed to the present utilizable networking tools. Toward the Development of the Connectionless Computer Networks 1960s: 1. Development of the ARPANET The ARPANET is one of the first networking technologies considered as the precursor of the internet technology. It had been developed in 1969 by a group under the United States Department of Defense known as the Advance Research Projects Agency (ARPA) and known as the ‘first operational packet-switching network’ (Stallings, 2007, p.25). The ARPANET achieved the objective of establishing a network capable of remote communication that can maintain the integrity of data exchange even in cases where certain components or units of the network had stopped working due to different causes (Morley and Parker, 2009, p.322). The ARPANET had initially been connected to four supercomputers. The network then grew into a larger network that included researchers in academic institutions and staffs and members of different government agencies (Morley and Parker, 2009, p.322). The original ARPANET design can be seen in Figure 1. From the said circle of users and groups connected to the ARPANET, the number of hosts grew to hundred millions and the number of users grew to billions. In 2007, there are 200 countries that were connected to the network (Stallings, 2007, p.25). From the said official use, the utilization of the system extended to college students. Thus, the ARPANET at that time was being applied for military purposes and for the exchange of information among the groups included in the circle. Through the inclusion of the students, though, a new purpose had been born considered as unintended. Computer games began during that time (Morley and Parker, 2009, p.322). Figure 1. Original ARPANET design. (Source: Tanenbaum, 2003, p.52) Basically, the networks continued to expand through the years. It became massive that it included the different types of hardware from the earliest to the latest such as the ‘DOS-based computers, the Windows-based computers, the Apple Macintosh computers, and the UNIX systems. The evolution, development and connection to the ARPANET can be considered as the early stage internet that the world has today (Morley and Parker, 2009; Stallings, 2007). The ARPANET uses the technology contributed by the different participants in the group such as the European networks including Cyclades in France and EIN. This collaboration led to the main system used, which was the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP). The protocol suite then became TCP/IP, the main foundation in the development of the Internet (Stallings, 2007, p.26). 1970s: 1. Development of the System Network Architecture (SNA) The SNA which had been launched in 1974 was developed by IBM. It is a layered architecture of network that can be used for utilization of multiple programs through a single host or the ‘tree-structured network.’ In 1976, though, multiple hosts had been enabled. Each host was equipped with SNA and can communicate through terminals. The network is composed of Type 1 nodes (terminals) and Type 2 nodes (terminal controllers). In 1983, Type 2.1 nodes for peer-to-peer sessions, Type 4 nodes (communications processors), ad Type 5 nodes (hosts) (Cassel and Austing, 2000, p.17). The SNA has logical entities comprising the network addressable units (NAUs). These were the logical units (LUs), the physical units (PUs), and system services control points (SSCPs). LUs are access points for end users which establish a session for communication. The physical units constitute the administrative and network operation services. The system services central points (SSCP) can be found in the host computer and manages the communication and processes within the system (p.18). Figure 2. SNA network structure with two domains. (Source: Cassel and Austing, 2000, p.18) 2. The Development of the NSFNET The NSFNET is a project initiated by the United States National Science Foundation in the 1970s to be able to share research information among different university research groups. This had been inspired and initially based on the ARPANET. Due to the coverage of ARPANET system, the NSFNET had to connect to the network to be able to achieve its goals. To do so the fuzzball had been developed in the 6 supercomputer bases of NSF namely San Diego, Boulder, Champaign, Pittsburgh, Ithaca, and Princeton (Tanenbaum, 2003, p.54) The fuzzball is an LSI-11 microcomputer which served as a little brother of each of the supercomputers. The said system was established as a more advanced version of the ARPANET since it immediately operated on TCP/IP. Through the use of the fuzzball though, the network became the first TCP/IP WAN. Approximately twenty regional networks had been added too the backbone. The whole system defined the NSFNET which can be seen in Figure 3. The main connection of the network to the ARPANET is through the IMP and a fuzzball in the Carnegie-Mellon machine room (Tanenbaum, 2003, p.54-55). Figure 3. The NSFNET backbone in 1988. (Source: Tanenbaum, 2003, p.55) The growth of the NSFNET continued to its successor the MERIT, the MCI and the IBM which started the ANS, or the Advanced Networks and Services. The said move initiated commercialization in the computer networking. This led to the establishment of ANSNET in 1990. The networks established from the 1970s to the 1990s constituted the development of the internet, or the collection of the data available for different users (Tanenbaum, 2003, p.54-55). 3. Connection-Based Networks: X.25 Through the development of the connectionless systems such as the ARPANET and the Internet, the connection-based networks are also continuously improving. The different types of technologies included in the connection-based networks are the x.25, the frame relay and the ATM. The X.25 was the first public data network put to use in 1970s when telephone communication companies were the leading corporations in the field. The communication through the X.25 used a computer to connect to a network or a remote computer through a telephone call. The X.25 had been replaced by the frame relay during the 80s (Tanenbaum, 2003, p.61). 1980s: 1. Continuous Progress of the ARPANET The ARPANET’s growth continued thus the need for the TCP/IP which can accommodate multiple networks and even the connection through LAN. In the 1980s then DNS (Domain Name System) had been developed to ‘organize domains and map host names into IP addresses’ (Tanenbaum, 2003, p.53). The development and growth of ARPANET through the years can be seen in Figure 4. Figure 4. Growth of ARPANET. (a) December 1969 (b) July 1970 (c) March 1971 (d) April 1972 (e) September 1972 (Source: Tanenbaum, 2003, p.53). The ARPANET has different layers required for operation which includes the internet layer, the transport layer, the application layer and the host-to-network layer. The internet later connects the different components of the system and allows packets of information, or IP packets or datagrams to move around and be accessed in different parts of the network. (Stallings, 2007, p.26; Tanenbaum, 2003, p.42). The transport layer allows conversation between the peers. This is located above the internet layer. There are two types of transport protocol, the TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and the UDP (User Datagram Protocol). The application layer can be found above the transport layer and contains the higher-level protocols such as the virtual terminal (TELNET), file transfer (FTP), and electronic mail (SMTP). The recent protocols include the Domain Name System (DNS) for mapping host names, NNTP for USENET news articles, and HTTP for accessing pages on the World Wide Web, etc (Tanenbaum, 2003, p.42-44). The fourth layer is the host-to-network layer, based on the TCP/IP reference model is located below the internet layer which is the access point of the host to the whole network, thus, it varies depending on the point where the host connects (p.44). The components of the ARPANET are represented in the diagram (Figure 5). Figure 5. The early representation of the TCP/IP model used in ARPANET. (Source: Tanenbaum, 2003, p.43) 2. Connection-Based Networks: Frame Relay The frame relay replaced the X.25. The said network connection though lacked error control and flow control. The said computer networking is even used in certain corporate settings in the turn of the century (Tanenbaum, 2003, p.61). 1990s: 1. Internet and the World Wide Web The development of the internet is in conjunction to the development of the different networking hardware and software. Through the 70s and the 90s, the main purpose of the technology included e-mail, news, remote login and file transfer (Tanenbaum, 2003, p.57). The internet architecture applies the different technologies developed through the years. Presently, it is composed of overlapping hierarchical networks as seen in Figure 6 (Stallings, 2007, p.25). Today, the internet components vary on the basis of the technology. An example is the host which can either be a computer, a mobile phone or a car. In a corporate set-up, a number of computers connected in a local area network or LAN can be the host. These hosts are needed to be connected to the network through Internet service provider (ISP) in a point referred to as the point of presence (POP) (Stallings, 2007, p.26). After the 1990s, the internet which had been used primarily for academic, government and industrial purposes such as research results and data sharing had been opened to the public through the development of the WWW (World Wide Web). The application had been developed by CERN physicist Tim Bernes-Lee which improved the utilization and application of pre-existing computer networking hardware. One of the important developments offered by the WWW is the ability to link different data in pages for easy access through the use of links (Tanenbaum, 2003, p.57). Figure 6. Element of the internet. (Source: Stallings, 2007, p.26) 2. Connection-Based Networks: ATM The ATM or the Asynchronous Transfer Mode was a connection-oriented network developed. The name of the network was derived from the manner of transmission which was opposite the synchronous manner the telephone system works. This had been developed and introduced in the 1990s. The system had a lot of potentials and was projected to solve the ‘world’s networking and telecommunications problems’ through the integration of the different forms of communications such as voice, data, cable television, telex, telegraph, etc. but the technology failed in doing so due to timing, technology, implementation and politics (Tanenbaum, 2003, p.61). 2000s: Latest Form of Computer Networking Technology 1. WIFI WiFi is the latest form of technology when it comes to computer networking. WiFi is the most common name for wireless LAN which was developed by IEEE using an 802.11 standard. The said standard had been made on the basis of 2 modes: in the presence of a base station and in the absence of a base station, which is known as a connection through WiFi is also referred to as ad hoc networking. The examples of Wireless LAN connection can be seen in Figure 7. Figure 7. Wireless LAN (a) with a base station (b) ad hoc networking. (Tanenbaum, 2003, p.61). Summary and Conclusion The computer networking is composed of technologies that have overlapping and interconnecting functions. The study is a view of the different developments trough the 70s from the ARPANET until the present with the wireless form of networking. The different technologies had been categorized on the basis of chronology as well as application. The connectionless systems and the connection-based systems of networking had been presented but the focus was more on the connectionless systems since they are more utilized and applied, from the ARPANET to the Wireless LAN networks. More hardware and software evolutions had been gathered and researched but the focus of the study are those who had been known and applied in the field through the years. From the ARPANET to the Internet and World Wide Web to the development of the Wireless LAN, there were numerous contributing technologies, e.g. the evolution of the protocols but for the purpose of systematized discussion, a generalized perspective had been presented. Bibliography Cassel, L.N. and Austing, R.H. (2000). Computer Networks and Open Systems: An Application Development Perspective. Jones & Bartlett Learning. Morley, D. and Parker, C.S. (2009). Understanding Computers: Today and Tomorrow. Cengage Learning. Stallings, W. (2007). Data and Computer Communication. Prentice Hall. Tanenbaum, A.S. (2003). Computer Networks. Prentice Hall PTR. Read More