A thicket of networks wound ’round the globe

Though somewhat incomprehensible to non-users, the Internet is really nothing more than a global thicket of interconnected computer networks.

Described as “the Matrix” by science fiction writer William Gibson, the Internet is reshaping the world by changing the way people communicate. Ultimately it may alter the way all of us work, with whom we share our ideas and time, and even how we play.

Today the most significant contribution of the Internet has been its social impact on scientists, students, teachers and researchers. It has created communities of people entirely unconnected from geographic boundaries.

For example, computer designers in Israel leave elaborate simulations of new chips running on their workstations when they leave work at night. When they return, the simulations are automatically rolled over the Internet around the globe, first to their colleagues’ machines in Japan, then as the sun rises, to the computers of another research group in the United States.

A SIMPLE MECHANISM

The Internet was created by the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a computer science experiment in the late 1960s, starting as a simple mechanism for sharing data, utilizing remote computers and exchanging electronic mail.

ARPAnet was broken in two components that became the twin backbones of the network — the military, called Milnet, and the non-military, called NSFnet. The National Science Foundation managed NSFnet in 1988 and 1989. Since then, the original ARPAnet network –which connected a handful of minicomputers at universities, corporate research laboratories and military bases — has been retired and subsumed in a vast collection of networks. There are thousands, but no one is actually sure how many, that reach around the world from the former Soviet Union to Singapore.

THE FORMATION OF A METANETWORK

The Internet is defined by a group of computer networks that share a common set of communications protocols (computer software and hardware) — known as TCP/IP, for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol –that were first proposed by ARPAnet pioneer Robert Kahn and computer scientist Vincent Cerf in 1974.

The Internet is actually made up of a backbone of computers connected by a mix of leased T1 phone lines and faster T3 (45 megabits per second) backbone links over fiber optic cables. (T3 lines are now being put in place by Advanced Networks & Services (ANS), an IBM-MCI non-profit joint venture.) These are generally Digital Equipment Corp. minicomputers, Sun workstations and specially designed communications computers called routers and hubs.

In turn, thousands of separate networks, local-area networks and isolated computers connected by dial-up telephone lines, hang off the main backbones like branches off the trunk of a tree. There are also connection points to networks that speak different protocols or “languages” than TCP/IP but are connected through software and hardware interfaces called protocol converters. The result is a metanetwork that connects tens of thousands of even smaller networks.

Today, the Internet has at least two to three million users, but some estimates run as high as ten million. It is impossible to conduct an accurate census because some remarkably large networks are represented as a single node in the Internet. For example, both IBM Corp.’s Vnet node and Digital Equipment’s Easynet node support several hundred thousand users each.

An open standard. TCP/IP protocols are supported by dozens of computer manufacturers and software publishers. As a result, TCP/IP has been adopted internationally. It is also used widely in private corporate networks that are detached from the Internet; many proprietary networks now also have connections or “gateways” to the Internet.

The most striking aspect of the TCP/IP protocols is that they are distributed — there is no one central point of control. This has meant that the network is unpredictable (links occasionally disappear without notice) but it has also created a remarkably robust web of systems that is constantly growing and changing.

Using the TCP/IP protocols, data is sent over the Internet as small variable-sized “packets” that may range in size from several words to several pages of information. Each packet is placed in a “digital” envelope so that different packets can be interwoven within the same data channel. Once they reach their destination the packets are reassembled into a complete document.

BRANCHING OUT TO UUCP

The Internet is interwoven with a number of other networks — including the anarchic UUCP (Unix-to-Unix Copy Program) network connecting hundreds of thousands of computers that run the Unix operating system via dial-up phone lines.

One of the largest UUCP networks is EUnet, or the European Unix Network, Europe’s largest subscription-funded network, which since 1982 has focused on users in the research and development community. Operating in nearly every country from Iceland to Russia, and as far South as Tunisia, EUnet connects more than 2,500 networks and sites and has gateways to every major network in Europe.

The growth of the Internet has been dramatic, particularly in recent years as thousands of commercial customers have begun to join. While it is impossible to accurately gauge actual membership, one measure of growth is the accelerating rate of data packets traveling over the Internet backbone (see chart, p. 19). Not long ago, month-to-month data packet growth — now well in excess of ten billion packets per month — was increasing at the rate of 25 percent per month.

FROM COMPUTING RISKS TO THE GRATEFUL DEAD

Electronic mail is still the biggest single use of the Internet, but it is by no means the fastest growing service that the network provides. In addition to network mail (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, or SMTP), a huge volume of data flows everyday via another network service known as “ftp,” or file transfer protocol.

Electronic bookstore. Ftp works like an electronic bookstore or library, allowing users at one computer to enter the address of another user virtually anywhere in the Internet and browse through file directories until they find a document or program they want. Users can then transfer the file to their own computer at high speed. Ftp has opened up an immense world of free software. There are literally dozens and dozens of computers dedicated to making available the latest public domain and shareware Macintosh, PC and Unix software packages.

Thousands of conferences. Beyond ftp there is Usenet, a remarkably diverse array of computer conferences (about 3,000) that run on tens of thousands of computers around the globe. Planned and created by graduate students at the University of North Carolina and Duke in 1980, Usenet has gone through a number of revisions and is now accessible almost everywhere in the computer world. There are discussion groups on every subject imaginable, from the risks of computing technology to urban folklore, sexual variations and everything imaginable in between. Some of the groups, like rec.music.gdead (devoted to the Grateful Dead rock band) have literally become communities, linking thousands of people who share a common interest.

In the Usenet world some groups are simply an uncontrolled electronic-stream-of-consciousness, while others are moderated by one or several members who serve as editors. In addition to Usenet, both the Internet and Bitnet, an academic network that is connected to the Internet, have extensive mailing lists that cover an equally broad list of topics. To join, it is only necessary for a network user to drop an electronic message to a particular network address; he or she is then automatically added to a mailing list.

Libraries and databases. One of the greatest potentials of the Internet is electronic libraries and commercial online databases. Several hundred libraries located in dozens of countries already have placed their catalogs on the Internet, but full-text databases are likely to emerge in the future. Already, through gateways it is possible to reach almost all of the existing databases such as Mead Data Corp.’s Nexis and Lexis and Dow Jones.

And now a pilot project conducted by researchers at Apple Computer, Dow Jones and Thinking Machines Corp. has established a standard for information retrieval over the Internet. Known as the Wide Area Information Server (WAIS) it provides a standard interface and set of protocols for full-text retrieval from enormous computer databases. More than 200 WAIS databases are now accessible for free and a standards committee is now finishing work on a text retrieval standard known as Z39.50. (For more on the WAIS project, see Digital Media, Vol. 1, No. 9.)

A simple mail connection. Moreover, it is possible to obtain a great deal of data with a simple mail connection to the Internet. “Listserv” programs running at many sites make it possible for an interactive retrieval process to take place via electronic mail. A user simply mails a query to a particular computer address and the system responds by first sending back a directory and then mailing any document requested.

Agents for browsing and retrieval. In the future, some computer scientists believe that it will be possible to devise software programs called “agents” that will automatically roam the Internet, browsing for information and retrieving it when it matches an owner’s needs. One such agent — “knowledge robot” (knowbot) — already exists. Vincent Cerf, now a researcher at the Corporation for National Research Initiatives, has designed a program that systematically searches a variety of Internet “phonebooks” for an address and then mails back the information when it finds a match.

“Backyard” chats. Moreover, the Internet is no longer all research and science. A program that resides on hundreds of machines around the world called Internet Relay Chat (IRC) permits computer users to drop in on global conversations in real time. By typing at the keyboard it is possible to have an “over-the-fence” backyard chat with someone in Finland or France. Like the real-time chat areas on CompuServe or other online services, it is possible to switch “channels” and drop in on different conversations going on around the clock.

Virtual reality, today. In recent years, hundreds of fantasy role-playing games have sprung up on campus computers. Called muds, or multiuser dungeons-and-dragons, they permit a computer user connected via the Internet to use a command called Telnet to connect to the game-playing computer. Once connected, users can travel through a text-based fantasy game and modify the game to extend their own fantasy. Muds, as might be expected, have become an addiction for thousands of people. Some people now spend a significant part of each day in these “virtual worlds.”

Since the original muds were designed by computer science students, it is not surprising that some of the games have interesting features. It is not unusual when traveling through these electronic mazes to run into “artificial intelligence,” programs that mimic human behavior and can be engaged in keyboard conversations.

Publishing — and pizza — on demand. Finally, new services are constantly springing up. Several bookstores now permit Internet users to order books directly over the network. Publishing companies such as McGraw-Hill are experimenting with new ways of distributing textbooks over the Internet.

Who knows where it will end? Some engineers at Sun Microsystems Inc. recently developed a program called “Pizzatool” that sends a pizza order over the Internet to a local pizza restaurant’s fax machine.

LIMITS ARE BEING ADDRESSED

Despite its vast potential for supplying computer users with a cornucopia of information, the current Internet has several limitations. The most serious is that it is a classically “user-hostile” world for the computer novice. Most information can be gleaned only by those who are willing to master a complex series of cryptic commands.

But that is changing quickly. A range of new software programs designed to simplify interaction with the Internet are being created. Examples are Gopher, a network browser program on the Next Computer that permits users to look for information on the Internet as simply as if it were a file on their local hard disk. More recently, Performance Systems Inc. has begun offering custom software for retrieving information over the Internet. And Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus Development and president of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is helping fund the development of software that takes some of the complexity out of navigating the net.

John Markoff

GETTING ON THE ‘NET

If you can’t get access to the Internet from work or school (until recently the two most common sites), it is now possible to get “on the net” in a number of different ways.

Mail gateways. In the past two years most commercial online services (but not Prodigy) have broken their isolation and begun to offer electronic mail gateways to the Internet. For example, if you are an MCI Mail subscriber, it is possible to send mail to someone anywhere on the Internet by simply entering his or her address on a special line in preparing your mail message. There is no extra fee for the service based on the rationale that if you can reach a larger audience you will send more e-mail messages.

At the same time the major online commercial services don’t currently offer what is referred to as “full” Internet access. It is not possible to use commands such as “telnet” and “ftp” to connect directly to computers on the Internet.

For that, it is necessary to subscribe to any of a number of regional or private Internet providers. There are now dozens of “regionals” — generally consortiums of colleges and universities, as well as public agencies and research centers. Depending on their guidelines, some regionals have begun selling their services to the general public.

INDIVIDUAL AND CORPORATE CONNECTIONS

Additionally a number of small private companies ranging from national providers such as Performance Systems Inc. to UUnet are offering individual and corporate connections to the Internet from either local or 800 dial-up numbers to full dial-up or leased-line connections. Performance offers a variety of services, starting with a simple mail connection.

To have your own Internet node — which is becoming a status symbol of sorts — can cost as little as a local phone call to a “friendly” Unix computer that is willing to let your computer call it every day to send and receive mail. It can cost as much as $175 per month for a full-blown, dial-up Internet link. Using the Internet without a domain name (such as joedoe@xyz.com) can be a lot cheaper.

For those who want more limited (and lower cost) access, a number of smaller companies now offer individual connections to the Internet. In the Boston area the Software Tool and Die Works offers direct connections and mail for as little as $5 a month and $2 an hour of connect time.

On the West Coast, Netcom in Santa Clara, CA, Anterior Technology in Menlo Park, CA, Portal in Cupertino, CA and the Well in Sausalito, CA offer various kinds of inexpensive connections to the Internet.

Commercial services. Nationally ANS has begun offering commercial services through a for-profit subsidiary called CO+RE. And in the future both AT&T and a number of the regional Bell Operating Companies are considering offering Internet services.

Moreover, new technology such as frame relay and Switched Multimegabit Data Service (SDMS) and new high-speed protocols such as the international synchronous optical network (SONET) standards are likely increasingly to blur the line between conventional telephone and Internet data networks in the future.

John Markoff

THE COMMERCIALIZATION DEBATE

In the future, the Internet is likely to serve as the foundation for an even larger and faster network that will reach into homes and businesses and carry digitized video and voice as well as data.

Proposed as the National Research and Education Network (NREN) in 1988 by ARPAnet pioneer Robert Kahn and University of Pennsylvania computer scientist David Farber, the Federal Government has since committed $1.5 billion toward building a national high-speed backbone network capable of carrying data at rates above one gigabit per second. (Such a network will be able to send more than 156 copies each second of, say, the novel Moby Dick.)

Congressional backers such as Senator Albert Gore Jr. believe that the new network, when it is completed sometime this decade, will form the basis of a national data highway, which, by creating a new electronic marketplace, will revitalize economic growth in the information age.

A VAST POTENTIAL MARKET

The new national data highway can serve as the conduit for a variety of consumer information services ranging from video-on-demand movies to catalog shopping and electronic classified advertising. Moreover, it would quickly become the backbone for virtually every kind of modern electronic commerce ranging from electronic data interchange.

Such a vast potential market hasn’t escaped the attention of the largest telecommunications and computer companies.

In 1987, the National Science Foundation issued an RFP (request for proposal) for a “next-generation” network that would support T1 speeds (1.5 megabits per second) and eventually T3 speeds (45 megabits).

The project was granted to IBM and MCI, who formed an academic consortium called Advanced Networks & Services. IBM now has a special division trying to develop new network businesses in partnership with telecommunications, cable and publishing companies.

Since then, U.S. Sprint and a number of smaller companies have begun offering Internet services and the issue of commercialization or privatization of the Internet has become highly controversial.

OPENING THE GATES

Internet access was once reserved for computer scientists, corporate researchers, college faculty and students. But in the late 1980s the National Science Foundation, which administers the backbone of the network, began a gradual process of privatization and commercialization. As a result, a number of commercial service providers have sprung up and more are on the horizon as data traffic increases and new electronic services spring up.

While almost everyone sees tremendous promise in commercialization of what began as a scientific and engineering experiment, the process has been slowed by a number of stumbling blocks.

Redefining ‘acceptable use.’ NSF has a long-established “Acceptable Use Policy” that prohibits purely commercial traffic from flowing over the network; information carried by the backbone network must be for either research or educational purposes. While the policy has restricted outright commercial ventures on the network, in practice what has research and educational value has been broadly interpreted.

A second stumbling block has been the settlements issue. Since ANS took over management of the NSFnet backbone network in 1989, there has been a bitter dispute over how much private networks should pay for traffic that passes between gateways linking the regional and private networks to the backbone.

A number of the private Internet providers have banded together into a CIX (Commercial Internet Exchange) and are now negotiating a policy of settlements with ANS executives.

John Markoff