Public Network Models Provide Pervasively Popular
Networks
The second, better, and long-term solution was to get IBM and
DEC (and Apple and Novell and Microsoft and Banyan and Xerox and so on) to stop
using their proprietary networking models and use a public, open networking
model. Today, we enjoy the results of that transformation. We live in a world in
which practically every computer uses the same public network model, called
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet
Protocol, or TCP/IP. By
having all computers use the same networking model, they can all communicate
easily.
TCP/IP is just another networking model, but it won out over
all the other models. And when I say TCP/IP won, I mean it won big! If you use
the Internet, you use TCP/IP. If you send e-mail or text messages from your
mobile phone, you use TCP/IP. If you sit at your desk and use a file server,
most of the time, you are using TCP/IP. Proprietary models like DECnet and SNA
are still used, but far less often than before.
TCP/IP is considered to be a public networking
model because no one vendor dictates the standards and protocols,
with individuals from many companies and organizations participating in the
standards definition process. The Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF) manages the process of creating TCP/IP standards. The IETF, to
quote the IETF website, is "a large, open international community of network
designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of
the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet. It is open
to any interested individual" (http://www.ietf.org). Literally, anyoneincluding you and mecan
participate in the creation of TCP/IP standards and protocols.
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