EVOLUTION OF INTERNET

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From its early days as a military-only network to its current status as one of the developed world’s primary sources of information and communication, the Internet has come a long way in a short period of time. Yet there are a few elements that have stayed constant and that provide a coherent thread for examining the origins of the now-pervasive medium. The first is the persistence of the Internet—its Cold War beginnings necessarily influencing its design as a decentralized, indestructible communication network.

The History of the Internet

The near indestructibility of information on the Internet derives from a military principle used in secure voice transmission: decentralization. In the early 1970s, the RAND Corporation developed a technology (later called “packet switching”) that allowed users to send secure voice messages. In contrast to a system known as the hub-and-spoke model, where the telephone operator (the “hub”) would patch two people (the “spokes”) through directly, this new system allowed for a voice message to be sent through an entire network, or web, of carrier lines, without the need to travel through a central hub, allowing for many different possible paths to the destination.

The Internet has revolutionized the computer and communications world like nothing before. The invention of the telegraph, telephone, radio, and computer set the stage for this unprecedented integration of capabilities. The Internet is at once a world-wide broadcasting capability, a mechanism for information dissemination, and a medium for collaboration and interaction between individuals and their computers without regard for geographic location. The Internet represents one of the most successful examples of the benefits of sustained investment and commitment to research and development of information infrastructure. Beginning with the early research in packet switching, the government, industry and academia have been partners in evolving and deploying this exciting new technology.

Role of internet in today’s world

Internet has given the field of business and trade a new face by taking it online. Undoubtedly, online business is thriving on the net. The Corporate World can reach out to a wider base of customers, through their websites. The number of active shoppers online is progressively on the rise and the business world is tapping this fact for the better. Locating resources like shops, outlets, businesses offering specific products and services has become easier through Internet. Apart from speed, reliability and an extensive reach, it also provides the buyers as well as the sellers with a greater range of products and services to choose from. It also eliminates the geographical limitations of trade and exchange. Thus, it is proving to be a fairly profitable mode in the business arena. Advertising and marketing have also experienced a radical makeover, all thanks to the Internet and its enormous coverage. A new product can be introduced to a mass audience within a matter of a few seconds through this high-speed medium. Apart from garnering the attention of the consumers, sellers also get the all-important feedback through various programs and polls. Looking at its colossal potential, Internet has become a highly viable advertising medium, too.

 Internet has made the tendering process smoother, safer and speedier. More secure and quicker filling up of tenders and execution of orders is now possible through e-tendering. Organizations using the new age methods undeniably enjoy a striking edge over the organizations making use of the conventional methods.

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