Cyberspace and the Information Superhighway

There are two terms associated with the Internet and the Web. One is Cyberspace and the other
is the information superhighway. The term cyberspace was coined in 1984, when author
William Gibson used it in this book Neuromancer to describe as society that had been a slave
to technology.

Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of

legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical
concepts... A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of
every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light
ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like
city lights, receding.

In spite of this depressing origin the term became associated with the layer of electronic
computer transmissions that blanket the globe. Today, cyberspace means the world of the
Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW).

The term information superhighway is also used in the same context, but there is not complete
agreement concerning its eventual impact on society. The term is normally used to describe a
positive force that gives everyone access to the wealth of information that exists in our modern
society.

Information Superhighway
“There will be a road that will not connect two points. It will connect all points”
“There will be no more there. We will all only be here.”

~ Anna Paquin - MCI Network Commercial

Internet Model

Both the Internet and the Web conform to client/server architecture. This is currently the most
popular way to use an enterprise-wide network in business, and it involves the central computer
performing the role of server and the user at their workstation representing clients.
In addition to the Web, there are other client/server information retrieval system that can use
the Internet. Three of these systems include Gopher, WAIS and USENET.

Gopher – Gopher was developed by the University of Minnesota as a means of retrieving

documents. Over time, it has been modified to its present form: a menu-driven system used to
retrieve files. It is used in much the same manner as FTP, As with FTP, you provide the browser
with the URL of the site where the file is located, and it is transmitted to your computer.

WAIS – WAIS (Wide Area Information Server) is a system used for locating and retrieving
textual material. It has limited navigational ability, and for that reason it has not enjoyed as
much popularity as Gopher and the Web

USENET – The Internet has made it possible for persons with similar interest, called
newsgroups, to exchange information electronically, USENET is the name given to the sites that
have agreed to participate in the transmission of message among thousands of news groups.
USENET can be accessed from the Web browser

Figure 3.15

Figure 3.15 is an Internet model that shows how FTP, Newsgroups, Gopher, WAIS and HTTP
are integrated into the Internet client/server architecture. The clients are the top, using a variety
of hardware platforms. The various addressing schemes protocols connect the clients to the
server, which provides access to the database of hypermedia.
Internet Standards

A major reason why the Internet and the Web have been received with open arms by computer
users around the world is because the two work together as a single system that can be used
from any computer platform. A user at a Dell PC or a Sun workstation can retrieve the same
Web page as a user at Power Mac. To make this possible, everyone contributing to the Internet
and Web Architecture must follow the same rules

Two organizations have assumed roles of leadership in established Internet and Web standards.
The Internet Society was formed in 1992 to promote commercial uses and has delegated
responsibility for Internet standards to the IETF (Internet Engineering task Force). Web
standards come from the World-Wide-Web Consortium (w3c)

Example of rules: Using font-family in the css rule to display the font usage in any platform.
Another for every HTML tag it should be closed (</body>).

Internet Security

There are not many flaws in the Internet, but one that has the potential to constrain business
use is the lack of security. In Chapter 22, when we discuss the information services function, we
describe how firms go to great lengths to keep their information resources secure. The resources
have maximum risk exposure when they are linked to a data communication network, and when
that network has the scale and number of users of the Internet, the risks increase significantly.
Hackers and other computer criminals can enter a firm’s computer network through its Web
site.

Traffic Cop of the Internet

Have you ever wondered who keeps track of the all URL? Well, it is a company in Herdan,
Virginia, named Network Solutions, Inc. Since 1993, it has maintained the official URL Registry.
Maintaining the registry is only part of the job. The real work begins when a request comes in
for a URL that has already been assigned.

Normally, if someone holds the trademark on a name, he or she is entitled to the URL even
though someone else may already have it. When there is a conflict, Network Solutions put the
URL “on hold,” and nobody can use it until the issue is resolved by the two parties – in or out of
the court
One approach is to physically separate the Web site from the firm’s internal
network, which contains its data and information resources. Another is to provide trading
partners with passwords that enable them to enter the internal network through
the Internet. A third approach is to build a protective wall (Firewall). This is the same
strategy used by buildings to keep fires from spreading from one unit to another

Network security specialists have applied the contractor

strategy, including the terminology. Internet security can be
achieved by means of a firewall, which is a filter that restricts
the flow of data between firm’s internal network and the
Internet. The idea behind the firewall is that it establishes one
safeguard for all computers on the network rather than
separate safeguards for each computer.

Firewall on
Construction
Firewalls can provide varying degrees of security depending on the type Three types include
packet-filtering, circuit-level, and application-level.

Packet-Filtering Firewall A type of device that is normally included in a network is a router,

which directs the flow of traffic. When the router is position between the Internet and the
Internal Network, It can serve as a firewall.

Circuit-Level Firewall A step up from the router is a computer that is installed between the
Internet and internal network. The computer makes it possible to integrate a higher level of
authentication logic into the filtering process. However, the limitation of a single point of
security still applies. The network programmer creates the necessary code that the computer
executes for all transactions.

Application-Level Firewall The most complete form of security is achieved by creating a

security zone between the Internet and the internal network. The zone consists of an isolation
mechanism, one separated from the Internet by a router, as illustrated in 3.16 the isolation
mechanism consists of several devices, including an external services host, which performs
screening that tailored to each application. The network programmer must write a specific code
for each application, and when application are added, deleted, or modified, the code must be
updated.

Incoming packets from the internet pass through the

 connectivity supplier’s network to a router and to the
organization.

The packet goes to a router box that duplicates the

function of the external router.

Rather than routing the packet directly to its destination,

the router redirects traffic through an external services
host and an IP “choke” host.

The IP choke performs actual protocol filtering.

Traffic is sent through a gateway to a separate router box

on the internal network, configured according to internal
security policy.

Business Application of Internet

Simply put the Internet can be used for any business application that involves data
communication, including both communications inside the firm and with the environment.
Many firms used the Internet for internal communications, an application communications
called the Intranet. We describe the Intranet in Chapter 11 when we address data
communications. In the previous chapter we discussed Electronic Commerce,
IOS(Interorganizational System), and EDI(Electronic Data Interchange) they can all use the
Internet.

The Internet can be used with any computer with any computer platform without making a
special effort. This is a big advantage. The Web protocol and browser are also much easier to
learn and use than the query languages that are normally used to retrieve information from
databases. In addition, the internet makes it possible to transmit a wider variety of media than
may firms handle over their conventional networks.
All areas of the firm can use the internet, but if there’s an area that would truly benefit the full
potential of internet, it would be marketing area. That is because so many of the Internet users
are potential consumer of the firm’s products and services. In addition, the Internet provides
marketers with a way of staying current on competitors.

Marketing Research
The Golden Rule of marketing could well be: “Know your customer.” The reasoning is that if you
do not know what the customer needs, you cannot meet those needs. A big segment of
marketing is industrial marketing

Diagram

Gopher WAIS

USENET
Internet Web