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Internet of Networks

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    In this fast moving world it’s hard to see a LAN, MAN or a WAN are in segregation. They are somehow connected to one another. When more than two networks are connected, they create Inter-network or what we call today The Internet.

So, What is Internet?

Ans. Internet is the network of networks; a structured, well organized communication system which has brought the capital of information into our fingertips and prepared it for our use.

The internet has revolutionized many characteristics of our daily lives whether you want to do a business, spend your leisure time in Netflix, need to send a mail within seconds in Gmail or Yahoo, paying your utility bill, checking up a local movie schedule or reading newspaper form a distant city—All can be done if you have Internet in your mobile or any devices.

It has been seen that, people often confuse the internet with another term, called Intranet.

What is Intranet?

An Intranet is a private local network which is well-structured within a company or an organization. It’s a private network because no outsider of the organization can access the intranet. Only the users within the network (who can be the employees of that company) are allowed to connect the associated LAN with individual network passwords to access the organization's intranet. It is consist of several LAN’s which are interlinked with WAN’s.

However, Both the intranet and Internet are governed over a communication protocol called TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internet protocol) that connects hosts to users over a network.

There’s another term often takes place whenever people talks about Internet and Intranet i.e. Extranet. 

What is Extranet?

We know that people within an organization can communicate and share information by Intranet, but no other outsider is allowed to access the intranet. Extranet provides the solution to that problem. The word “extra” in this term means to anything that is important to the company or the organization, and yet that exists outside of it such as; the dealers, merchants, clients, and suppliers.

Hence, extranet is defined as a subset of intranet which is a private network designed specifically for outside individuals (merchants, clients, suppliers) to communicate and share information with the managers and employees of that organization.

Look at the figure below to understand the difference between Internet, Intranet and Extranet.

internet download manager, internet explorer
Internet definition

Working Principle of Internet

Internet has come a long way since its inception in 1960s. Today, internet is not a plain hierarchical structure as it is seems. It consists of lots and lots of LANs and WANs connected with devices, switches and routers. It’s hard to define an exact architecture of internet--because it’s continuously changing. New networks are being supplied; existing networks are adding new addresses, and networks which are outdated are being removed.

Nowadays, most users who want to have an internet connection use the services of Internet Service Providers (ISPs). These ISPs are private companies who run the internet and can be international, national and regional. The concept of international ISP, national ISP and regional ISP is shown below.

isp full form, isp stands for
Internet definition

National Internet Service Provider: National ISP’s are the spinal cord of networks that are formed and maintained by private companies. Mostly they are based on America, such as AGIS, PSINet, and SprintLink.

Regional Internet Service Provider: Regional ISP’s are smaller ISP’s that are connected to one or more national ISP.

Local Internet Service Provider: Local ISP provides the internet directly to the users. It can be connected two or more regional ISP’s or directly connected to national ISP’s. To provide the connectivity between users and the providers, a complicated switching station is used known as network access points (NAPs).

Study Sessions

Q1: What is Internet? What is Intranet?

Q2: Differentiate between Internet, Intranet and Extranet.

Q3: What are the problems associated with Intranet? How can it be solved?

Q4: Explain the working principle of Internet.


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