The Growth of Internet Technology:
Will the Trend Continue?
The
world has become a 'global village'. This oxymoron is because of the immense
contribution of the internet and the way it has been able to successfully bring
the globe together in a village like community. The term 'Global Village' was
coined in 1970s by the great visionary Marshall McLuhan.
This has been
converted into reality by the growth of the internet technology and its
continuing trend. Before delving deep into the stats, one can easily count the
benefits of the internet in the field of transportation, communication,
entertainment, medical science, education, research and development, logistics
and many more. The growth of internet has been exemplary over the last couple
of decades. It is already documented and speaks volume about how this
technology has penetrated into the lives of the masses all over the globe.
It
is unbelievable and surprising that the internet had just around 16 million
users (about 0.4 percent of the global population) in 1995. Today, it has
around 2,267 million users (December 2011). This is approximately 32.7 percent
of the global population (source: IDC, International World Stats). In a span of
17 years the internet technology has grown by leaps and bounds. Off course, the
credit for this impetus should also be given to the people and other emerging
technologies that has consistently made internet more accessible, beneficial
and omnipresent.
In
common parlance, Internet refers to a global interconnection of networks owned
and operated by industries, academia, government and other private entities. It
is meant for the transition of knowledge, information and a viable means of
communication. While racing with time, it has so far achieved and surpassed all
the objectives of its authors and concept builders.
Even
the flora and fauna has been impacted upon by the internet technology. If you
are around 35 years of age then you can easily recollect the vintage years of
this technology and the way by which it grew. The consolidation of the internet
as a global platform has changed the way of communication and international and
domestic business activities. Due to this technology, communication has no
distance related barriers. It has integrated the whole world with a single thread
and gave true meaning to the words 'global village'. It would not be an
exaggeration if you call internet technology as the best and universal means of
communication for billions of people.
The
credit for this rapid growth of the internet technology should also go to the
development of different protocols such as http and https, TCP/IP and IPv4 that
may become IPv6 very soon. Moreover, Ethernet, routers, routing protocols, the
development of the document object model, domain name resolution (DNS) and security
measures like firewalls and fiber optics are some of the technological aspects
that you should include in the list of the factors that has played a pivotal
role in making internet technology such a big success.
One
more thing that you can't afford to omit in this discussion is the role played
by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). W3C has delivered all important
interoperable technologies in the form of tools, guidelines, specifications and
software to help the Web grow to its full potential. As a forum for
information, communication, commerce and collective learning, W3C has
innumerable contributions to the growth of the internet technology.
What
is more intriguing and encouraging about the internet technology is its
consistent growth over the years. Every day we come across about new products
and services using this technology. It has given concrete platform for many
industries to grow and benefit people. The latest buzz in the market related to
the internet technology is the smartphone. Most recently, it has revitalized
the complacent telecommunication and entertainment industry with fresh concepts
and given vigor to achieve more and more in the coming years. So there is no
harm in saying that the growing trend of internet technology that began a couple
of decades ago is likely to continue and bring something new and improved.
Jennifer
M Shields enjoys resolving tech issues that might take place with PCs, laptops,
Macs and devices like iPhone, iPad, smartphones, digital camera etc. Being
associated with Qresolve as a tech support
engineer she carries experience of fixing more than thousand issues so far. As
a part of professional computer support service provider she has been offering
quick tech solutions to global customers through premium services like virus removal, PC optimization, PC security and
support to emerging technologies.
Her interest in disseminating awareness about
technology has induced her to convey her skills into texts through articles,
blogs and other online documents. She has got various documents published
across the online platform and earned accolades from readers.
