Nt1310 Unit 1 Research Paper 1

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Bob Ross Sept 21, 2012 Research Paper 1 In today’s information thriving society, we sometimes take for granted the technologies that provide us with that information. We turn to the World Wide Web for everything these days, whether it’s buying, selling, watching tv, talking with friends, etc. Yet many do not understand the infrastructure that must be in place in order to do these things. We have to marvel at the technology that made all of this possible, and also recognize how it’s all built. The ability to route data across the Internet can’t be done without an IP address. Every device connected to the Internet requires a unique IP address to ensure that data can reach each device. In comparison to a telephone network, a router acts like a telephone switch that connects a caller to the phone number. When you send a message over the Internet, the message is broken down into small pieces. These pieces are called packets. Each packet has the ability to take its own route. The packet header includes the IP address information. A computer sends each packet along with the IP address and the receiving computer IP address. In examining the packet header, the routers are able to read the source and destination IP addresses and forward the packet accordingly. There are servers on the Internet that store the mapping of web addresses to…show more content…
Only a fraction of the Internet has adapted the IP, however with IPv4 nearly reaching its capacity, the transition to IPv6 should increase in speed. The switch is a necessary process and it requires routers as well as software used for Internet communication to comply with the new standard. IPv4 and IPv6 networks run in parallel and exchange of data between the two requires a special gateway. Any changes are time consuming and very costly. Also, because IPv6 is in its early days, there are errors and security issues that will surface when it is fully implemented in the real

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