Introduction And Overview of TCP/IP

Uses of TCP/IP

Image Credit: Ryan Seslow

TCP/IP Stands for Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol.

In 1982, the TCP/IP Internet included a few hundred computers at two dozen sites concentrated primarily in North America. In 1996, over 8,000,000 computer systems attach to the Internet in over 85 countries spread across 7 continents; its size continues to double every ten months. Many of the over 60,000 networks that comprise the Internet are located outside the US.

In addition, most large corporations have chosen TCP/IP protocols for their private corporate internets, many of which are now as large as the connected internet was twelve years ago. TCP/IP accounts for a significant fraction of networking throughout the world. Its use is growing rapidly in Europe, India, South America, and countries on the Pacific rim.

The variety of applications using TCP/IP is staggering: it includes hotel reservation systems, applications that monitor and control offshore oil platforms, warehouse inventory control systems, applications that permit geographically distributed machines to share file access and display graphics, applications that transfer images and manage printing presses, as well as teleconferencing and multimedia systems. new applications are emerging constantly.