The Web is increasingly important to
Raytheon’s customers and businesses. Now,
with Web-based applications being posed as
an alternative to PC-based applications, and
with cloud computing potentially enabling
entire computer services to be outsourced,
this might be a good time to remind readers
of some Internet basics.
How Did It Develop?
The concept of the Internet — using packet switching rather than circuit switching — came from a study done for the U.S. Air Force to create a highly robust, survivable network. BBN Technologies was awarded the Air Force contract in April 1969.
1 Breaking data into packets enables more efficient use of a shared circuit, and improves robustness because each packet's arrival at a destination can be confirmed. When failure occurs, a missing or corrupt packet can be re-sent to ensure successful reception. Because packets can take different routes to a destination, a packet-switched network can overcome data congestion by routing packets around "traffic jams." This ability to determine different routes for packets to follow enables the network to survive loss of physical circuits without interruption.
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