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Essay on History of TCP/IP
The best place to start looking at TCP/IP is probably the name itself. TCP/IP in fact consists of dozens of different protocols, but only a few are the “main” protocols that define the core operation of the suite. Of these key protocols, two are usually considered the most important. The Internet Protocol (IP) is the primary OSI network layer (layer three) protocol that provides addressing, datagram routing and other functions in an internetwork.
The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is the primary transport layer (layer four) protocol, and is responsible for connection establishment and management and reliable data transport between software processes on devices. Due to the importance of these two protocols, their abbreviations have come to represent the entire suite: “TCP/IP”. IP and TCP are important because many of TCP/IP's most critical functions are implemented at layers three and four. However, there is much more to TCP/IP than just TCP and IP (Mostafa et al 2000). The protocol suite as a whole requires the work of many different protocols and technologies to make a functional network that can properly provide users with the applications they need.
TCP/IP uses its own four-layer architecture that corresponds roughly to the OSI Reference Model and provides a framework for the various protocols that comprise the suite. It also includes numerous high-level applications, some of which are well-known by Internet users who may not realize they are part of TCP/IP, such as HTTP (which runs the World Wide Web) and FTP. I will provide a brief summary of the history of TCP/IP here; of course, whole books have been written on TCP/IP and Internet history, and this is a technical Guide and not a history book.
TCP/IP History
In the late 1960's, most computer users bought a single large system for all of their data processing needs. As their needs expanded, they rarely bought a different system from a different vendor....
