Hardware and Software Solutions 15
This paper on current Internet connectivity speed calls on a number of sources to detail the conflict of two opposing forces: marketers of services that want to get more and more people online; and the engineers, programmers and technicians who are faced with the problem of what to do with those people once they are online.
The paper details the basic elements of connectivity, showing that there are some dozen areas of control that combine into what is loosely known in the popular press as "speed." A table of the standard Internet Protocols derived from various IETF documentation shows the challenges and complexities of solving these disparate problems through established protocols.
A great many software programs are available to solve some of the problems such as latency, dual conversion, echo and data request, and an SQL program was created to implement a cross search engine detection for these programs which are detailed in table form. The paper concludes with a view to the challenges that are facing the Network administrator who tries to combine the need for speed with the need for greed.
A current television commercial for IBM summarizes the topic of this essay. The first part of the commercial shows beautiful scenes from around the world, of people communicating with the Internet. The voice over says "The Internet. More people connected than there are in the world. The Internet. Open 24 hours a day, eight days a week." We cut from the beauty to various rooms where computer engineers are trying to deal with computers that are burning, wires hanging out, and each of the engineers says the line "I am such toast."
What is currently known as the "Internet" could best be described as strong opposing forces coming into constant conflict (Fixmer 6). The two opposing forces are the marketers of services that want to get more and more people online, and the engineers, p...