What is "Internet"?

The Internet was originally developed for the United States military, and then became used for government, academic and commercial research and communications. It is a combination of Hardware (interconnected computers) and Software (protocols and languages that makes everything work). It is an infrastructure of networks on world-wide scale (large main networks - such as MILNET, NSFNET, and CREN - and smaller networks that link to them) connecting simultaneously many types of computers.

There are over six million computers that use Internet anywhere in the world and that use several formats and Internet protocols:

• Internet Protocol (IP): a protocol that is used to route a data packet from its source to its destination over the Internet.
• Transport Control Protocol (TCP): a protocol that it is used to administer accesses.
• User Datagram Protocol (UDP): a protocol that makes it possible to send a datagram message from one computer to an application running in another computer.

The Internet has several administrative bodies:

• Internet Architecture Board: oversees technology and standards.
• Internet Assigned Numbers Authority: assigns numbers for ports and sockets, etc.
• InterNIC: assigns Internet addresses.
• Also: Internet Engineering and Planning Group, Internet Engineering Steering Group, and the Internet Society.