When you use the Internet, what happens?
Whether you go on-line with a friend, or send a mail, or buy a gift, check the score, or watch a movie, or study about Tipu’s war!! same wire connects you to the desired destination all the time. So as billion people with billion connections all over the world.
How does that happen?
Consider that you have some information in your personal computer (PC) which you would like to share with your friend, so in order to do that first you should connect your PC to your friend’s PC, thus making connection with help of wires and softwares.
That’s called a “Network”
Imagine that there are other Networks like yours within your vicinity which they want to share their information with yours. So by connecting all these Networks, a link between each and every computer is created, so called “Intra-Network” or “Local Network”.
By connecting large number of Local Networks a large hub is created where every PC is linked with other PC, known as “INTER-NETWORK” popularly known as “INTERNET”.
Internet works with protocols (how to send and receive data). Protocols which should be followed by each and every one, failing which doesn’t serve the purpose of the individual. As long as each and everyone agree with the protocols, we can keep adding the individuals in the Internet until the whole world is connected. That’s what the Internet is, the Network of Networks that share each other their information.
Every device on the Internet has a unique address. Anything you sent in the Internet is just information that is sent from one device to another, thus unique address will be allotted to all the devices which we use, thus clearing mass confusion of accurate reception.
Messages or Information sent will be divided into small packets of data which will be obviously in the binary form (wake up its digital world), where these packets contain the information along with the details of the sender and receiver, this make the packet to reach the destination accurately
This way your one message which divided into several packets can travel through the Internet in any path (here path is wiring network by which PCs are connected) without the fear of getting lost (remember these have addresses on their back). so our packet takes diversion or deviation or choose different path if the conventional path is congested or overcrowded with other’s data.
Then by following the protocols the receiving device puts the data all together making it understandable to the end user.
So as to reduce cost and traffic of data Internet Exchanges (IE) are provided. These IE’s are connected to different platforms of service providers such as end user (this is what now a days users use), social networking, banking, shopping, academic, financial etc. and this type of connectivity from everyone is known as Peering. Even making peer to peer connections (end user to end user) possible.
The Internet is open, decentralized and totally neutral. No single organisation controls it and works well as long as it does.
Image credits:
–http://blog.adsbrook.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/internet-pic.jpg
–http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-two-connected-laptops-image21218169
–http://technostories.wordpress.com/category/mind-mapping/