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Internetworking links multiple computer networks together using gateways, allowing different types of networks to act as one. The concept of packets and frames enables the transfer of data between different network technologies. ARPANET’s development of TCP/IP in the 1970s led to the creation of the Internet.
Internetworking is the practice of linking multiple computer networks together to form larger networks. Different types of networks can be connected with intermediate devices known as gateways and once connected they act as one big network. Internetworking was developed as a response to several problems encountered in the early days of personal computers and forms the basis of the modern internet.
Many people use different types of networks every day without even realizing it. A business person using a smartphone to check email is using a cellular network, while a home user might be streaming music to a laptop over a wireless network. Rural users could access their Internet service provider’s network through a dial-up connection. In the corporate world, large wired networks are the norm. Internetworking allows all of these networks to connect to each other despite their technological differences.
The key to connecting different types of networks is the concept of packets: tiny individual data units. Packets are the foundation for modern computer networks, but they are not limited to any one networking technology. Instead, packets can be placed in so-called frames, which are designed for specific network technologies. This arrangement allows packets from any network type to be used on any other network type. Special devices that support more than one network technology, called gateways or routers, can transfer packets between these different networks.
Internetworking has gradually evolved as a response to various challenges. The first connections between multiple computers were “dumb” terminals with little or no computing power that connected to large, powerful mainframes. As personal computers (PCs) began to replace terminals, PCs were grouped into local area networks (LANs). While this had many advantages, the LANs were isolated and could not connect to other LANs, which limited productivity. File servers, printers, and other resources could not be shared across locations, and organizations with multiple locations were unable to easily exchange information.
In the early 1970s, American researchers working on a Department of Defense-funded network known as the Advanced Research Project Agency Network (ARPANET) began investigating the possibility of linking their network to other early networks. These researches realized that early network protocols were not suitable for internetworking and initiated the development of Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). By the late 1970s, the ARPANET had been connected to two other networks via TCP/IP and a crucial page in the history of the Internet had been written.
In the 1980s, new networks continued to be connected to the ARPANET and an increasing number of LANs were connected to each other via the ARPANET. In 1989, a network built by the National Science Foundation (NSF) replaced the ARPANET. From there, the regional networks were connected to the NSF network using TCP/IP and related protocols, and a large “network of networks” emerged: the Internet.
