COM125 Week2:TCP/IP- The Universal Language

In the world, we have 6,912 living languages (Ethonologue,2007). It's almost impossible to unite 6,192 different languages into one because of many factors like cultural, distance, political difference... If only, human can use TCP/IP to communicate as million of electronic devices are communicating with each other. What is TCP/IP?
According to Wikipedia,

TCP/IP is protocol suite combining of the "two most important protocols in it: the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), which were also the first two networking protocols defined. Note that todays TCP/IP networking represents a synthesis of two developments that began in the 1970's , namely LAN's [ Local Area Networks] and the Internet that revolutionalised computing.

Whether TCP or IP, they are both one of the most important invention which shaping and changing the world of Internet. The word "Internet" means a global and large network using TCP/IP. However, the inventors of TCP/IP like Robert E. Kahn of DARPA, Vint Cerf of Stanford University ,Hubert Zimmerman and Louis Pouzin have never ever imagined how it had influenced the Internet nowadays.
TCP/IP currently has 5 layers: Application, Transport , Network, Datalink and Physical layers. Let's imagine our Internet connection as a big Pipe ( like this FAT GREEN PIPE below)


Inside the pipe, there will be 5 different layers for specific uses of users.
If we go into the Application layer, you will see all the web applications are running at bullet speed. These application can be Web browsers, Photo uploader like Picasa.

If we accidentally fall into Transport layer, we will be hit by massive amount of traffic. There is a HUGE TRUCK of Youtube video overthere. Behind that truck, we can see tons of voices are transfered on a SBS Bus from Singapore to U.S.A. This Transport layer is mainly for Video and Audio streaming.
Network layer is originally designed to solve the problem of getting packets across a single network. Emergency cars and rescue services are working really hard to diagnose and fix network problems.
Data link and Physical link layer play the role of mover or transporter on the Internet. Virtual Private Network, encoding and decoding information, Frame Replay.. are some of the application using Data Link and Physical Link Layer.
5 layers in a Pipe, thing is just as simple as the pipe. However, since the Evolution of Internet, TCP/IP has changed almost everything in the world of Bytes.
The Standardization and Unification of TCP/IP have enabled alien networks to connect to each other. We can take a simple day of our life as an example.

Last night, after having a party, you friend have taken many pictures on his phone. He uploaded all the photos instantly to his Blog by using GPRS service from Starhub. You simply downloaded it the next morning on the bus to your PDA. The photo, later, would travel from your PDA to your laptop, then a community site. Some reporters were searching for clubbing pictures from Iraq using their satellite Internet Connection. They might find your picture and share with a friend on MSN. A guy living in Buffalo received the pictures and added some music, created a video clip, then post on Youtube.

On the journey, your pictures have been passed on an enormous number of devices. Even though they are totally different from each other like router versus cellphone, they have communicated to each other well enough not to distort the pimple on your face from the picture to the video.
TCP/IP is promising the new future of the "United World": every device is connected. Not only the Internet will be changed again but our society will benefit from this synergy. From 1970 to 2007, the nature of TCP/IP hasn't been much different. The difference is created users' demands. And Internet user will still be "the ONE" in this cyber world.

References

Ethnologue. Ethnologue, Languages of the World. Retrieved January 26, 2007, from Ethnologue Web site:
http://www.ethnologue.com/

Wikipedia, (2007, Jan 2). TCP/IP model - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved January 26, 2007, from Wikipedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCP/IP_model

History of the Internet. (2007, January 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:00pm, January 27, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_the_Internet&oldid=103255177