International Business Management - Essay Example

182). At the same time, it is also interesting to see that the global ICT network does not share many common features but has distinctive features (Shin & Park, 2007, p. 263). Due to the unique characteristics of high technologies and particular characteristics of ICT sector, development in this sector has become complicated (Chlivickas et al., 2009, p.324). In the following parts of this paper, the Internet history has been incorporated. The history of the Internet describes the role of the United States and its adversaries in the pre and post Cold War era situations.

Subsequent to that, the definition of the Internet has been provided. It is followed by the information communication technology segment, in which the concept of information communication technology has been discussed. But before the description of some of the major aspects relating to the concept, the basic and comprehensive definition of information communication technology has been provided. This definition encompasses not only the intangible aspects of ICT but also the tangible ones. Before the summary part, global trends and the effects of the Internet on the ICT have been included.

History of the Internet The internet has continued to evolve, meeting the needs of all kinds of users (Kozierok, 2005, p.122). “The Internet’s roots can be traced back to 1957 when the United States formed the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) within the Department of Defence” (Gallo & Hancock, 2002, p.56). The formation of ARPA was mainly caused by the US response to the former Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik, which was a unique innovation of artificial earth satellite. As the hostility continued between the two countries, the ARPA’s ultimate objective was to counter the measures taken by the former Soviet Union.

In order to achieve this objective, ARPA’s mission was to make efforts and establish the United States as the world’s leading country in military and defence applicable science and technology applications (Gallo & Hancock, 202, p.56). Subsequent to that, the establishment of DARPA enabled the team of the ARPA to develop and run internetwork named ARPANET, the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, in the year of 1969. Originally, the ARPANET was built to serve defence and military objectives, but with the passage of time it underwent numerous changes and modifications that increased its use among other people.

The formal innovation and development of a comprehensive system of internetworking protocols started in 1973 (Kozierok, 2005, p.122). In the initial phase of this technology, only one protocol was used for the purpose of internetworking. However, with the passage of time improvements were introduced in the internetworking protocols and better versions of this technology began to show their importance for the current and potential users. Definition of the Internet It is hard to give a precise and exact definition elaborating all uses and characteristics of the Internet.

However, Schneider et al. (2009) quote the definition provided by the Federal Networking Council (FNC), which states that “Internet” is “the global information system that: (i) Is logically linked together by a globally unique address space based on the Internet Protocol (IP) or its subsequent extensions; (ii) Is able to support communications using the Transmission