Use Of TCP/IP

In 1982, the TCP/IP Internet included a few hundred computers at two dozen sites concentrated primarily in North America.In 1996, over 8,000,000 computer systems attach to the Internet in over 85 countries spread across 7 continents; its size continues to double every ten months. Many of the over 60,000 networks that comprise the Internet are located outside the US.

In addition, most large corporations have chosen TCP/IP protocols for their private corporate internets, many of which are now as large as the connected Internet was twelve years ago. TCP/IP accounts for a significant fraction of networking throughout the world. Its use is growing rapidly in Europe, India, South America, and countries on the Pacific rim.

Besides quantitative growth, the past decade has witnessed an important change in the way sites use TCP/IP. Early use focused on a few basic services like electronic mail, file transfer, and remote login. More recently, browsing information on the World Wide Web has replaced file transfer as the most popular global service; Uniform Resource Locators used with Web browsers appear on billboards and television shows. In addition, many companies are designing application protocols and building private application software. In fact, over one fifth of all traffic on the connected Internet arises from applications other than well-known services. New applications rely on TCP/IP to provide basic transport services. They add rich functionality that has enhanced the Internet environment and has enabled new groups of users to benefit from connectivity.

The variety of applications using TCP/IP is staggering: it includes hotel reservation systems, applications that monitor and control offshore oil platforms, warehouse inventory control systems, applications that permit geographically distributed machines to share file access and display graphics, applications that transfer images and manage printing presses, as well as teleconferencing and multimedia systems. In addition, new applications are emerging constantly.

As corporate internets mature, emphasis shifts from building internets to using them. As a result, more programmers need to know the fundamental principles and techniques used to design and implement distributed applications.