The Future Of Computer Networking

In this unit, we have looked at many aspects of computer networks. The Internet has been woven through every topic covered, because in networking terms, the Internet is now the "only game in town".

In particular, we have not given any particular coverage of the Open System Interconnection Reference Model (OSI-RM) of the ISO. This represents a major change in the unit.

It remains to be seen whether the Internet can maintain its dominance in years to come. The following are some factors which will influence this:


Developments In The World Wide Web

In the last lecture, it was claimed that the WWW was an excellent example of client/server computing "done right".

The WWW now generates the major proportion of all Internet traffic. Its success is, in large part, due to the way in which makes the use of networks so simple.

The WWW is based on three fundamental concepts:

  1. The HyperText Markup Language, HTML. This is being continually extended, with little agreement on desirable standard features. It is clear that this could lead to big problems in the future as new browsers define new, incompatible, markups. The latest, and greatest new innovation is "applets".
  2. The HyperText Transfer Protocol, HTTP, currently version 1.0, may soon be upgraded to version 1.1 with some useful new features.
  3. The Universal Resource Locator, URL has some limitations, and the use of URNs has been proposed as a replacement. This will not happen.

Business And The Internet

Many businesses now have (full) Internet connections. It has become common to distinguish a business's Intranet from the outside Internet with one or more firewalls separating the two as previously discussed.

A significant aspect of this is that businesses can move to using TCP/IP networking on their internal network. Nevertheless, proprietory protocols still have the major market share of this market.

Ways in which businesses can profit from an Internet presence include:


WWW Advertising

Popular Web sites now sell advertising space on their pages. Typically, an "ad" is simply an in-line image configured as a hyperlink to the advertiser's own "home" page.

Recent (and proposed) developments in HTML appear to have been designed to facilitate advertising. For example:

There is a very great amount of debate as to the effectiveness of Web advertising. Some of the contentious issues include:

Electronic Storefronts

In this model of Internet commerce, a company's WWW server is set up to allow "on-line purchasing" of goods or services, in a manner analogous to using a mail order catalogue. The enabling technologies for this are:

WWW Businesses

Many companies and individuals are already making serious money on the Web. They seem to fall into the following categories.

WWW Browsers As Universal Clients

An interesting recent development is the use of the WWW model for purposes somewhat different to the original.

Modern browsers, particularly when used in conjunction with CGI programs running on a server can perform a very wide range of functions. For example, if an organisation wishes to move a mainframe application to a client/server environment, they can now realistically consider using HTML/HTTP and a WWW browser to achieve their goal.

With all new browsers supporting the execution of "applets" (written in Java), the potential exists for the browser to take over many jobs previously managed by the operating system (file management, for example) or by applications software such as spreadsheets and word processors. A variation on this theme is seen in the recent emergence of "network computers" from Oracle, Apple and others.

Further, browsers may start to become useful in entirely new fields such as management of industrial plants.

It is difficult to predict where this could lead...


Multimedia And The Internet

Some (rather enthusiastic) pundits have suggested that the Internet and WWW model is sufficiently flexible to become the new medium for pay TV, Video on Demand, and all the rest.

At present the WWW has limited support for other media - the most successful forms are first downloaded and then run through a local player, eg sound files and MPEG movies. Other approaches, such as "real audio" work less well.

In the future, the WWW will have to include support for the existing Internet multimedia structure, the Mbone. Mbone is the "multicast backbone", a virtual network layered on the Internet and designed for efficient distribution of:


This lecture is also available in PostScript format. The tutorial for this lecture is Tutorial #21.
Phil Scott