A Significant Technology from Module 3

TCP/IP is the networking protocol that effectively allows everyone to access the Internet from their computer.

It is actually a layered protocol suite but I shall look mainly at it's two major components that the give the protocol it's name; TCP & IP.

This layered approach allows technologies to be developed independently yet still interoperate with each other, and effectively makes development easier.

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) allows information to be sent in the form of datagrams or packets.

These packets are not concerned with the data that is concerned with the data that is contained within in them, as that is the job of protocols at other layers of the suite.

IP was developed later as an enhancement to TCP asnd deals primarily with addressing. IP allowes each machine to have a unique address for the time it is connected to the Internet.

This is achieved by assigning an address according not only to the computer but also to the network of which it is a member. The Internic and it's successors are responsible for the assigning of IP address and domains.These are combined as a 32 bit address which usually be a member of a Class being either Class A, B or C. These Classes illustrate the size of the network and the number of computers within it.

Network Class	Address range of first field	Number of networks available	Number of hosts supported
A	1-126	126	16,77214
B	128-191	65,534	65,534
C	192-254	16,777,214	254

This Class system allows for the inclusion of computers on the largest corporate networks, to small company networks and on to the home user with a single PC. This is essentially the factor that makes TCP/IP such a success, allowing the Internet to realise developers idea of a network of networks that can be connected regardless of size or indeed hardware or software.

However TCP/IP pays the price for these qualities and suffers overheads in the form of complex configuration and lack of speed. It is not the slowest protocol but is by no means the fastest and although in can be used perfectly well within Local Area Networks, it really comes into it's own when linking networks and accessing the Internet. In the 1980s there was some debate as to which protocol would be adopted for use with the developing Internet. Had another protocol been chosen then it is difficult to predict as to how the Internet would have developed. But if no agreement had been reached then it is feasible that the Internet as we know it may not have developed and instead it may have fragmented and become proprietary. Despite the Internet's diversity and lack of centralised management or policing it thrives on the convention that is TCP/IP.

TCP/IP is now a relatively old protocol, and the 32 bit system may soon struggle to accommodate all the hosts that will need to access the Internet. This is an important issue which for which potential solutions are under development.

TCP/IP is over 2 decades old, in which time many other related technologies have developed. Other protocols have been developed that may rival TCP/IP, or indeed compliment it.