Report on the Internet

Report on the Internet

1.1 What´s the Internet?

That question is rather difficult to answer because the Internet is so many things to so many different people. It's simply a series of computer networks linked together all over the world, communicating almost all the time with one another.

A single network of computers, is for example, all the computers linked together within our school building. The Internet consists of thousands of these networks communicating together, like a big net or web! University networks connected to government networks connected to business networks connected to private networks - this is the Internet! These computer networks are physically linked together by telephone, radio, cable lines or via satellite. Networks from other continents are interconnected by the large, intercontinental telephone and fibre optic communication lines that run below the ocean floor.

1.2 Size of the Internet

Nobody knows for sure how big the Internet is. It is estimated that there are approximately thirty to thirty-eight million people that are ‘on-line,' with sites on every continent. In fact, the Internet has grown at an exponential rate since its beginning.

It is the largest network of computers in the world and is growing at about ten percent per month. That means that at the current rate of growth, the Internet-users will double just ten months from today.