The Internet, The Web,

Electronic Commerce
-Lecture 2-

Introduction
- The Internet – Information Superhighway: Connects millions of
people across the world
- The Internet moves ideas, data and information through networks
- The Web provides an easy to use, intuitive multimedia interface to
connect to the Internet
- End users need to be aware of the resources available

The Internet and the Web

- The Internet: largest global network, connecting smaller networks
- Launched in 1969
o National computer network
o US funded project called ARPANET – Advanced Research
Projects Agency NETwork
- WWW was introduced in 1991 at CERN

Internet Network Architecture

- TCP/IP model with 5 layers:
o Physical layer: Connect to the network
o Network Access: Interface with the physical network
o Internet layer: IP addressing and routing of network traffic
o Transport layer: Flow control, error control
o Application layer: Troubleshooting, file sharing, internet
- Applications: Google, email, Facebook…

LAN – Local Area Network

- Characteristics:
o Smaller scope: Building or small campus
o Usually owned by same organization as attached devices
o Data rates much higher
- Categories:
o Switched LANs:
▪ Ethernet
o Wireless LANs
o ATM LANs (Asynchronous Transfer Mode)

MAN – Metropolitan Area Network

- Characteristics:
o Between LAN and WAN
o Private or public
o High speed
o Large area

WAN – Wide-Area Network

- Characteristics:
o Span a large geographical area
o Cross public rights of way
- Technologies used include:
o Circuit switching
o Packet switching
o Frame relay
o Asynchronous Transfer Mode
Common Internet Uses
- Communication: Emails, Discussion Groups, Chats
o Email: Header (Address, Subject, Attachment), Message,
Signature Line
▪ Spam: Junk, unwanted emails
▪ Spam blockers
o Instant messaging: Messenger…
o Social Networking: 3 basic categories
▪ Reuniting sites
▪ Friend of a friend sites
▪ Common interest sites
o Blogs, microblogs, wikis
- Online Shopping
o E-Commerce Buying and selling goods over the Internet
▪ B2C Business to Consumer
• Online banking, financial trading, shopping
▪ C2C Consumer to Consumer
• Similar to traditional auctions
• Auction house sites, person to person auction sites
▪ B2B Business to Business
• Manufacturer supplier relationship
o Security: Payment must be fast, reliable, secure
- Searching
o Locating information
o Types of searches: Keyword, directory
o Metasearch engines
o Specialized search engines
o Content evaluation:
 ▪ Not all information on the web is accurate.
▪ Evaluate accuracy by authority, accuracy, objectivity,
currency
- Entertainment
- E-learning
- Cloud Computing
o Shifts computing activities from users’ desktop to computers on
the internet
o Frees end users from owning, maintaining and storing software
programs and data
o 3 basic components:
▪ Client
▪ Service provider
▪ Internet
- Web Utilities
o Plugins: Enhance browsing experience by enabling special file
formats and multimedia elements
o Filters: Block access to selected sites
o File Transfer Utilities: Upload/download files to/from the
Internet. 3 popular types of programs
▪ File transfer protocol (FTP & SFTP)
▪ Web-based file transfer services
▪ BitTorrent
o Internet Security Suites: Maintain your security and privacy
while on the web

Access
- Through a Commercial Internet Service Provider (ISP)
 o National Service Providers
o Wireless Service Providers

Browsers
- Programs that provide access to the Internet
- Chrome, Firefox, MS Edge, Opera…

URLs
- Uniform Resource Locators
- URLs have at least 2 parts:
o Protocol (http or https)
o Domain name (google.com, .com is top level domain)
- Browsers interpret HTML commands (Hypertext Markup Language)
- Display document as a web page

Challenges
- Energy
- Smart
- Quality of Service
- Connectivity