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within a corporate network are usually T1 or T3 lines, which are fiber-optic lines used for long
distance communications. The speed of a T3 line is about 28 times faster than the speed of a T1 line.
Just as in peer-to-peer networking, each PC on the network must have a network interface card if it
will connect to a LAN, a wireless network, or a modem. When a series of LANs in different cities are
interconnected, they form a wide area network (WAN). Large businesses, with facilities around the
country or world, network their users‟ personal computers together in a series of LANs, which are
further interconnected into a large WAN. The Internet is the world‟s largest WAN, connecting
together millions of computers of commercial companies, government agencies, schools, colleges and
universities, and not-for-profit agencies from around the world.
Preventing unauthorized people from accessing confidential information is one of the biggest
challenges posed by networks. To do so, people and organizations use special security software. One
technique, a firewall, allows outside users to obtain only that data that is outside the firewall of the
network servers; only people inside the company may access information inside the firewall.
Organizations also use encryption to make the transmitted information unreadable except to those who
have the key to decipher the encryption algorithm.
World Wide Web
The terms Internet, World Wide Web, the Web, and cyberspace have become synonymous. It‟s
important to understand that the Web is comprised of the network itself (the Internet) and software
that provides the functionality we‟ve come to expect from the Internet. It‟s also important to realize
that the Internet is owned by no one company and is at present governed by no one group.
The Internet—the Network
The Internet is the worldwide WAN that has become the major growth area in technology and the
business community. Although the Internet has been around for decades, its popularity exploded with
the development of the necessary software programs that made the Web very user-friendly to explore.
Large organizations have a dedicated data link to the Internet using very fast data lines such as T1
or T3 lines. Individual users access the Internet using third-party companies called Internet service
providers (ISPs). These ISPs allow users to connect to their servers, which are connected directly to
the Internet. Some ISPs have started providing high-speed or broadband connectivity between users
and the Internet with the use of cable modems or DSL technology (as discussed previously). Highspeed
connectivity will typically cost nearly $50 more than the normal $5 per month for dial-up speed
(56K) access.
WWW—the Technology