The World's Largest Computer Network and Sun

Sun's relationship with and support of the Internet is extensive

The Network is the Computer, claims Sun Microsystems(R), Inc., and nothing proves the point more convincingly than a look at the Internet, the world's largest interconnection of computer networks. It is no coincidence that Sun has played and continues to hold such a key role in the development and expansion of this worldwide communications infrastructure.

Definition

The Internet is the connection of thousands of computer networks. It is estimated that as many as 45,000 of these networks are now connected, serving approximately 20 million users. (1) The current growth rate is reaching 15 percent a month; at this rate, every person in the world will be connected sometime between the year 2001 and 2002! (2)

To be a part of the Internet, these networks must employ a common set of protocols for transmitting and receiving data which are based on the Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) standard.

Millions of documents and terabytes of information are available on every topic from cooking recipes to advanced particle physics research.

Although electronic mail and plain text file transfers are still the bulk of activity on the network, more sophisticated -- and user friendly -- tools are making the network a multimedia, interactive system, able to transfer images, motion videos and sound files. They enable navigation through a "hypertext" graphical user interface (see "Surfing the `net,")

How it got started

The Internet's roots sprouted in 1969 when the Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency launched ARPAnet. The goal was to provide a computer communications network linking heterogenous systems (and one that could, incidentally, withstand a nuclear attack). The Defense Department continued to support expansion of the network in the 1970s, and the system evolved into a network among defense contractors, universities and research centers. (3)

During the 1980s, the National Science Foundation took on a role in expanding this network. ARPAnet was eventually phased out and by the early `90s the NSF essentially took over the Defense Department's role, supporting the "backbone" that has become the basis for the Internet.

Today, no one owns or controls the Internet. The costs for maintaining the system are paid through users who essentially maintain their own computers, servers and networks and gateways to the larger network. The NSF still provides funding and is influential in decisions regarding the Internet. Future rules of the road, however, are being established through the nonprofit Internet Society, based in Reston, Va. Membership includes individuals, organizations, government agencies and businesses.

Internet usage

Changing usage

Despite its academic heritage, the Internet is quickly gaining popularity among commercial users, who see a working prototype for the much ballyhooed though still nonexistent Information Superhighway. In February, for instance, Encyclopedia Brittanica, the nation's oldest and most prestigious reference-work publisher, announced it would distribute information to universities and some public libraries via the Internet. These for-fee services, however, are still in their infancy, as businesses grapple with a number of issues, including document authentication, security, the most efficient way to bill for services and the scalability of the TCP/IP-based system.

Sun as Internet pioneer

Sun's roots in the Internet go back to the late 1970s and early `80s:

Sun's 12,700 employees use the Internet in conducting both internal and external business, sending and receiving over 1 million electronic mail messages each day.

More than that, Sun has been a pioneer in using the Internet as a research database resource and as a customer service.

SunSITE(TM), an Internet server at the University of North Carolina that went on line in June 1993, is a repository for information on not only Sun but White House papers, Internet public domain software and other data. Current usage of the system has reached as high as 100,000 file transfers a day. (5) Additional Sun SITE servers have been established in Tokyo and London and four other sites are slated to go on-line this year.

Sun also was the first company to develop a unique service program using the Internet. SunSolve not only answers technical questions about Sun software but can actually transmit fixes to bugs in software directly to users over the network. Customers are also alerted to any upgrades or new software via the Internet. This service went on-line in August 1993.

The future of the Internet

While overall Internet usage is exploding, the most dynamic growth today is in the World Wide Web, a global network of documents linked via "hypertext" protocols. The Mosaic tool is rapidly gaining acceptance as the de facto standard interface for using the web. Latest statistics place the World Wide Web as the 13th largest network service in the world, up from 127th a year before. (6)

While the government and businesses wrangle over the most effective way of establishing an information infrastructure, the Inter net is quietly blazing the path as the prototype and may, in fact, become by default the true data highway.

Internet factoids


1. YankeeWatch white paper, November, 1993.

2. Internet Society presentation.

3. Krol, Ed, The Whole Internet Users Guide & Catalog, O'Reilly & Associates.

4. Sun Microsystems, Inc. research.

5. SunSITE documentation.

6. Hughes, Kevin, "Entering the World-Wide Web: A Guide to Cyberspace."


Surfing the `net

Although electronic mail is still the most popular vehicle for moving information over the Internet, large data files are most commonly transferred in several different ways. "Surfing" (as in channel surfing with a remote control on a TV) for this information, involves knowing a few basic commands. Among them are:

SOURCE: INTERNET USERS GLOSSARY


(C) 1994 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. Sun, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems, Solaris, NFS, Sun SITE and SunSolve are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sunergy is a service mark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. NCSA Mosaic was developed at the National Center for Super computing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. All other product or service names mentioned herin are trademarks of their respective owners.