Preparing For The Internet Future

Authored by Robyn Kall, Director of Strategic Technical Architectures, Systems Interface Inc.

"You can't swing a squid without hitting the Internet."

Anonymous

A very important question posed by organizations today is: Are we Internet ready and can we leverage our current software construction tools, methods, architectures and skills to take advantage of the inevitable Internet based future?

The Internet and the Applications on the Internet

It is common to hear people talk about the Internet and the World Wide Web as if they were synonymous, but it is important to remember the difference: the Net (or the Internet) is the physical and low level software communications network (i.e. the phone lines, switches, channels that link the world together) where as the Web is simply an application on the Internet. That is, one is the plumbing, while the other an application of plumbing a Jacuzzi, for example. The Web, FTP, Archie, SMTP, Gopher are all applications on the Internet. For our purposes, the related articles will focus on the Web technology and architecture components which enable/support many of the other Internet applications.

Preparing For The Internet Future

"You can't swing a squid without hitting the Internet."

A very important question posed by organizations today is: Are we Internet ready and can we leverage our current software construction tools, methods, architectures and skills to take advantage of the inevitable Internet based future?

The Internet and the Applications on the Internet

Related Articles

The Web

Standards Are The Key To The Internet's Success

What Does Being Internet Ready Really Mean?

Internet Building Blocks

CGI (Common Gateway Interface)

Web Application Architectures

Internet Application Development Tools

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