A Series of Tubes

The Access Science article about The Internet provided a lot of information about the networking architecture both in a hardware and software sense.  Just as the previous article on databases brings to light, people use the internet multiple times every day yet few people know how this phenomenal system of transporting data actually functions beyond clicking on the internet explorer icon on the desktop. The internet is so vast that with the current interne t protocols in place we are actually beginning to run out of unique urls to assign to new websites.  Despite having all of this information and knowledge available nearly instantaneously, the internet weighs only about 2 ounces. The video below goes through the math of how this is possible.  When you realize this, the magnitude of just how immense an accomplishment the internet is made self-evident.

How Much Does the Internet Weigh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaUzu-iksi8

The second article I read was about the history of fiber optic networking, link.  This method of transferring data, whether the internet or telecommunications, is performed by sending pulses of light through individual optical fibers. This light then gets forms into an electromagnetic carrier wave that is modulated so that information may be transferred and carried. While first developed in the 1970’s the fiber optic cable can carry roughly sixty five thousand times the amount of data than the copper cables that it would eventually come to replace. This advent of technology allowed the internet to become a more realistic invention with the need for giant copper cables to be run all across the world by internet service providers.  The security that may be accomplished over fiber optic networks is better due to the difficulty of splicing into the network cables.  An issue known as “last mile” has plagued fiber optic networks where the distribution lines for teledata are run through fiber optic lines but from the distribution to the premise of the end user is still using older technologies which still cause a bottleneck of network speeds.  More companies, such as Verizon, are now offering consumer level fiber optic networking capabilities and in the future this will most likely become the norm.

Deep Web

Access Science’s article on the internet, while perhaps a little outdated (i.e. needing a dial-up account for email) it provided a decent overview of the basics of the internet and how it is available the public to use. Some of the interesting points that the articled provided was in the discussion of the protocols involved in computer to computer communication. I also had no idea what routers do: keeping track of data fragmentation to provide compatibility between the two computers in communication. Finally, the explanation of the workings of the web was interesting. The web is only a part of the internet, yet the majority of the internet we utilize is via the web.

The second article, "Going beyond the Web's surface," I read examined what most surfers hardly ever get a glimpse of: the internet beyond the web; sometimes referred to the deep web. The deep web, by some estimates is twice as large as the world wide web. This additional data is unavailable because search engines are unable to search the files and there is no domain name associated with the location. Most of the data resides on databases that can only be accessed if a web site provides indexing and search of the database or if the user knows the directory information of the data or files desired. Interestingly, a large part of the deep web data is on U.S. government databases as the U.S. government is the world’s largest publisher.

The accessibility of the deep web is not static, however. PDF files, for example, were once a part of the deep web, but search engines have been able to index the files and now can be searched. I believe with time, eventually all of the data available via the internet will be part of the surface web as search engines improve.

Week 7 - Internet

Though I have used the Internet for the majority of my life, I found reading the encyclopedia entry that I knew relatively little about its history and what happens in the background to make it work. It was interesting to read about Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol as these were entirely new topics for me. It makes sense that there would have to be standards and rules for how data is broken down so it can be effectively transferred across the Internet. I liked the analogy of data moving like mail through post offices and distribution centers. Each piece of data sent seems to make many stops along the way as its directed to its final destination. I also like the explanation of the relationship between IP addresses and the domain name system as I was unfamiliar with how they related to one another. Reading about how intranets work got me thinking about how building sensors could feed information into an intranet allowing building operators to track trends about many aspects of the building. It seems to me that an intranet would be the most likely way the type of sensors we have been discussing would be implemented in an intelligent building.

The first article I found, The Pervasive Internet and the Progress of Intelligent Buildings, focuses on why building managers like Internet-enabled applications for monitoring their facilities. The author writes that any building manager’s goal is to be responsive to the need of those that work, shop or live withing their building. Networked sensors, switches and systems built into the building’s infrastructure, which are capable of communicating with building operators and one another, allow managers to easily adjust to changes in the building environment to satisfy its occupants. The author points out that not only is interoperability a compatibility issue (devices being able to speak the same language), it is also a connectivity issue. For example he writes about a fire emergency. A smoke detector bought at Walmart simply runs on a battery. To improve safety, building managers would like the smoke detector to tell the HVAC system to pressurize stairwells so occupants can safely escape or shutdown elevators while dropping off passengers at a safe floor. The author makes a case for Internet enabled devices that would make data more transferable and pervasive. Using their Internet connection, the many devices that are part of the building infrastructure could send data to the proper destination in which Internet-enabled application would allow building managers to react to the incoming information or other devices react accordingly.

The second article I found was about defining what an intelligent building is and did so with a significant focus on what role the Internet plays in the definition. The article is called The Realization of Intelligent Buildings. The main points of the author’s definition of intelligent buildings include the integration of disparate building systems so they can be controlled by a centralized common user interface using a shared network for all building-system communications. The author compares the usage of a single IP network to multiple proprietary networks with a detailed image showing how multiple monitoring system controls can be linked through the Internet to a central monitoring and control station. She writes that intelligent buildings successfully merge building management and IT systems to optimize system performance and facility operations, with everything operation on a common network infrastructure. With systems integrated onto a single IP or Ethernet network, routers and switches are converted into IP by a centralized control system so that data can be delivered across the network where it is accessible from secure Web browsers. This allows systems to be monitored 24/7 even when the central monitoring station is unmanned.