Secret Service 38/SSERV_38_CD.bin/utils/sharewar/aaa.arj/TEXT/DAC.TXT

Text File | 1996-04-30 | 43KB | 808 lines

|b|s18Connecting to ·the Internet,25206  with Netforce|b|s10

|b|s12How Is It Done, and What's In It For You|b|s10

You will, of course, want to connect to ·Netforce,18306  in order to test NetShark, send
your first ·email,9277  (to [e-mail] of course) and read ·news,19311 . And this is
how you go about it.

And here's what you are going to need to connect:

1) |b|s09A username|b|s10 that you would like to use - This should be between five and
ten characters. It should not contain any spaces. This will appear before the
'@' sign in your ·Netforce,18306  ·address,299 , which will look something like
[e-mail]. This will also act as your ·email address,9131 . You will
need to choose two of these, in case one has already been used by another
user.

2) |b|s09A password|b|s10 that you would like to use. This should not be a real word or
a name. It should be between five and ten characters. It must not contain any
spaces. This will enable you to connect to the ·Netforce,18306  network and also to
collect your ·email,9277 .

3) |b|s09Your credit card details.|b|s10 You must have this at the ready if you want to
make use of the trial. If you decide to take up ·Netforce,18306  as your Internet
Service Provider, you will be able to continue seamlessly with your
connection once your free month is finished. If you decide against continuing
with ·the Internet,25206 , simply tell ·Netforce,18306  just before your month ends (send them
an ·email,9277 !) and your credit card details will be destroyed.

Now you need to use the auto-registration program that appears as a
separate application and is installed by the |b|s09Access All Areas|b|s10 installer.

Make sure that your ·modem,17446  is correctly connected and switched on, and the
registration program will detect the correct port and find the ·modem,17446 .

Fill in the relevant details.

Click the Send button. The process takes less than 5 minutes.

|b|s12Problems|b|s10
If you have problems with this procedure, check that your ·modem,17446  is
connected to the correct point on the computer, using the correct cable.

Check that the telephone line connection is working.

There is very little scope for error in the registration program and procedure.
Accordingly, there is very little that we are likely to be able to suggest other
than to repeat the procedure above until it works.

We regret that we are not able to assist in debugging your ·modem,17446  or serial
communications connections, since this is outside the scope of our service
which relates to ·Internet,14318  connectivity issues only. If your ·modem,17446  is older than
2 years, then we seriously suggest that you consider upgrading to a modern
unit complying with V32 or V34 standards.

If all else fails, please call 01245 257788 for assistance with the registration
process.

|s14|bWhat Your Free 30 days Gets You|s10|b

Your Free Trial with ·Netforce,18306  enables you to do the following:

|b|s12Email|b|s10
During this trial period, the maximum size of message in your box will be
limited to 20K. Anything beyond that will be summarily lopped off. The
maximum message storage per trial user will also be limited to 1 megabyte
(1Mb), so remember to collect your mail regularly!

As a courtesy to the Net, if you subscribe to any mailing lists during this
period, you should unsubscribe if you are not planning to maintain your
mailbox. Please remember that if you decide not to continue with ·Netforce,18306  at
the end of your Free Trial period, any ·email,9277  not downloaded by you will be
deleted from the ·mailhost,16852  and will not be redirected.

|b|s12The World Wide Web|b|s10
Use the ·World Wide Web,28238  with NetShark and other browsers

|b|s12FTP|b|s10
Access ·FTP,11881  sites to download free or low-cost software

|b|s12Usenet - ·Internet,14318  News|b|s10
Read and write to ·Usenet,26764 , ·the Internet,25206 's interactive ·news,19311  forum

|b|s12IRC|b|s10
Make use of the |b|s09Access All Areas|b|s10 ·IRC,15915  channel #Access_All_Areas on
irc.team17.com port 6667

|b|s14Support with Access All Areas|b|s10
|b|s09Access All Areas|b|s10 doesn't stop when you've handed over your money, we
here at The Big Room would also like to extend our support to you once
you're ·online,20848 . And here are just a few of  the options available to you for
support and even updates.

|b|s12Newsgroup support|b|s10
Take part in the ·netforce,18306 .support.access-all-areas newsgroup for discussion
of this |b|s09Access All Areas|b|s10.

|b|s12Your own mailing list|b|s12
Take part in the |b|s09Access All Areas|b|s10 mailing list by sending your first email
to [e-mail]


|b|s14About Netforce|b|s10

·Netforce,18306  offers both local support and access to the global ·Internet,14318  in one
elegant solution. This is just one of the reasons that we recommend the
system to |b|s09Access All Areas|b|s10 users.

|b|s12The Benefits of a Full ·Netforce,18306  Connection|b|s10
After your Free Trial period finishes we would advise that you take up the full
membership with ·Netforce,18306 . Not only does it offer excellent ·dial-up,7163  connection
for £15 per month, you also get access to the following benefits:

|bPOP3 Email|b
No fiddling around with additional pieces of software, just launch ·Eudora,9980  to
send and receive ·email,9277 .

|bManaged Mail Box Service|b
This provides you with a separate ·address,299  for each user (£10.50 per quarter),
an additional service that means your ·email,9277  can be organised into specific
subject boxes if you require: just like having PO boxes for snail mail.

|bDomain Registration|b
Having a [e-mail] ·address,299  is fine and will enable you to ·email,9277  all
around the world, but you can go one better. With ·Netforce,18306 's Domain
Registration service you can become [e-mail]'. This enables
you to retain an ·email address,9131  for life as well as ensuring that you are always
taken seriously. ·Netforce,18306  can also carry out the registration procedure with
Internic for non-UK domain names (.com), as well as ensure that your new
domain name is circulated around the global ·Internet,14318 .

There are many many more benefits to a full ·Netforce,18306  connection. Launch the
copy of NetShark that we have included on |b|s09Access All Areas|b|s10 and, after
entering the URL:

|b|s09http://www.team17.com/TBR/Access|b|s10

you can also find more information about ·Netforce,18306  by using this URL:

|b|s09http://www.·netforce,18306 .net/access|b|s10

|b|s12Where You Can Connect Locally|b|s10
When you use ·Netforce,18306 's registration program, you will be given any updated
telephone numbers relating to your areas. However, the following list details
the telephone code areas currently covered by the scheme.

|mAberdeen          01224|m
|mAshbourne         01335|m
|mAshford           01233|m
|mAyr               01292|m
|mBallygally        01574|m
|mBarnstaple        01271|m
|mBarton on Humber  01652|m
|mBelfast           01232|m
|mBirmingham        01216|m
|mBlandford         01258|m
|mBournemouth       01202|m
|mBourtonwater      01451|m
|mBrighton          01273|m
|mBristol           01179|m
|mCambridge         01223|m
|mCardiff           01222|m
|mCarlisle          01228|m
|mChelmsford        01245|m
|mChesterfield      01246|m
|mCoventry          01203|m
|mCrewe             01270|m
|mCumnock           01290|m
|mDarlington        01325|m
|mDartford          01322|m
|mDoncaster         01302|m
|mDover             01304|m
|mEdinburgh         01315|m
|mEllon             01358|m
|mExeter            01392|m
|mForfar            01307|m
|mGlasgow           01413|m
|mGlenrothes        01592|m
|mGloucester        01452|m
|mGuildford         01483|m
|mHastings          01424|m
|mHemel Hempstead   01442|m
|mHereford          01432|m
|mHuddersfield      01484|m
|mInverurie         01467|m
|mIpswich           01473|m
|mIrvine            01294|m
|mKeighley          01535|m
|mKidderminster     01562|m
|mKings Lynn        01553|m
|mLancaster         01524|m
|mLarne             01574|m
|mLeeds             01132|m
|mLeicester         01162|m
|mLennoxtown        01360|m
|mLiverpool         01514|m
|mLondon            01716|m
|mLondonderry       01504|m
|mLong Stratton     01508|m
|mManchester        01619|m
|mMedway            01634|m
|mMiddlesborough    01642|m
|mMilton Keynes     01908|m
|mMold              01352|m
|mNeath             01639|m
|mNewcastle         01914|m
|mNewry             01693|m
|mNorth Cave        01430|m
|mNorwich           01603|m
|mNottingham        01159|m
|mOundle            01832|m
|mOxford            01865|m
|mPerth             01738|m
|mPeterborough      01733|m
|mPlymouth          01752|m
|mPortsmouth        01705|m
|mPreston           01772|m
|mReading           01734|m
|mShirenewton       01291|m
|mShrewsbury        01743|m
|mSlough            01753|m
|mSouthampton       01703|m
|mStevenage         01438|m
|mStonehenge        01980|m
|mStowmarket        01449|m
|mStratford on Avon 01789|m
|mSwindon           01793|m
|mTaunton           01823|m
|mTorquay           01803|m
|mTruro             01872|m
|mTunbridge Wells   01892|m
|mWalsall           01922|m
|mWhitehaven        01946|m

|b|s12Using Another Service Provider?|b|s10
While we strongly recommend ·Netforce,18306 , we are aware that there are other
Internet service providers in the country. While you will still be able to use all
of the software on |b|s09Access All Areas|b|s10, and the on-line help and hypertext
will also be of use to you, we cannot 100 per cent guarantee that you will be
able to use the Details page to ensure a connection because of the possible
changes to log-on procedures. This is especially true if you are using a
system that does not provide POP3 ·email,9277  as standard. If this is the case,
please be sure to read the About ·Email,9277  section from the ·Home Page,12368 .

|b|s14The Legal Stuff|b|s10
Deciding to take up the ·Netforce,18306  offer of one FREE month's Internet
connection (including ·email,9277 , ·WWW,28406  and ·News,19311  - and the rest of the Internet
thrown in) means registering with ·Netforce,18306 , and agreeing to a few rules and
regulations which we suggest that you read here and now.

|bNetForce Group plc|b
|bDuke House|b
|bVictoria Road South|b
|bChelmsford CM1 1LN|b

|bPhone: 01245 2257788|b
|bFax: 01245 257799|b
|bhttp://www.·netforce,18306 .net|b
|[e-mail]|b


|b|s18TERMS AND CONDITIONS|b|s10

|b|s14DEFINITIONS|b|s10

The End-user means the party named on the application form.
The Supplier means ·Netforce,18306  Group plc., Duke House, Victoria Road South,
Chelmsford CM1 1LN
The Service means ·the Internet,25206  service as further defined by this agreement.

A: Conditions pertaining to use of the network:

The End-User acknowledges that The Public IP Exchange Limited ("PIPEX")
provides the telecommunications network facilities underlying the Services
provided by ·Netforce,18306 .  The use of PIPEX's telecommunications network
facilities is subject to the following terms, breach of which may result in
suspension or termination of the End-User's right to use the Services:-

1.        The PIPEX network may only be used for lawful purposes.
Transmission of any material through the PIPEX network, or use of any part of
it, in violation of any UK law or regulation is prohibited.  Such prohibited
transmission might include, but is not limited to: copyright material; material
legally judged to be threatening or obscene; material protected by trade
secret, whether or not the End-User was aware of the content of the material
or of the relevant law.

2.        The End-User shall be issued with a password to access the Services
and shall take all reasonable steps to keep such password private and
confidential and ensure that it does not become known to other persons. If the
password becomes known to any other person the End-User will immediately
inform ·Netforce,18306  and the password shall immediately be changed.  Netforce or
PIPEX may change the End-User's password from time to time at their
discretion without prior notice.

3.        The End-User shall not use the Services: for  transmission of computer
viruses; for transmission of any material which is defamatory, offensive or
abusive or of an obscene or menacing character, or which may cause
annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety, or for the posting of any such
material to bulletin boards or newsgroups; in a manner which constitutes a
violation or infringement of the rights of any person, firm or company
(including but not limited to intellectual property rights).

4.        The End-User acknowledges that PIPEX is unable to exercise control
over the content of any information passing over the PIPEX network and that
PIPEX does not monitor or exercise any editorial control over information
passing over the PIPEX network.  The End-User further acknowledges that
PIPEX hereby excludes all liability in respect of any transmission or
reception of information of whatever kind, or the accuracy of the contents
thereof, or the scrambling of any information or data.

5.        The PIPEX network may be used by the End-User to access other
networks worldwide and the End-User agrees to conform to any acceptable
use policies of PIPEX and any such other networks.  In addition, the End-User
undertakes to conform to any published ·Internet,14318  protocols and standards. In
the event that communications by the End-User do not conform to these
standards, or if the End-User makes profligate use of the PIPEX network to the
detriment of PIPEX or other PIPEX customers, PIPEX reserves the right to
restrict passage of the End-User's communications until the End-User
complies with such standards or protocols or provides undertakings
acceptable to PIPEX in respect of the End-User's future use.

6.        Without prejudice to the generality of Section 5, PIPEX considers that
any applications which transmit live video, live audio, or make similar traffic
demands across the PIPEX network by whatever means, constitute making
profligate use of the PIPEX Network and as such are not permitted.  Use of IP
Multicast, other than by means provided and coordinated by PIPEX, is also
prohibited.

7.        Each End-User account is to be used by either: a single user on a
single or multiple machines; or by multiple users on a single machine, but not
both. Simultaneous log-ins using the same account are not allowed.

8.        In the event that the End-User is in breach of any provision of this
Schedule, ·Netforce,18306  shall be entitled to suspend the Services forthwith without
notice.

9.        The End-User should also be familiar with the further and general
terms posted from to time at http://www.·netforce,18306 .net/terms-vector.htm


B: Conditions of Trial Agreement with ·Netforce,18306  Group plc

|b|s12DEFINITIONS|b|s10
1.The Customer means the party applying for a temporary or trial connection.
2.The Supplier means ·Netforce,18306  Group plc., Duke House, Victoria Road South,
Chelmsford CM1 1LN
3.The Trial Service means ·the Internet,25206  service as further defined by this
agreement.

|b|s12SUPPLY|b|s10
The Supplier undertakes to supply to the Customer the Trial Service according
to availability of capacity for a period not exceeding 30 days from
registration.


|b|s14ACCEPTANCE OF AGREEMENT|b|s10
The acceptance of this agreement denoted by the Customer's completed
registration details received by ·email,9277 , fax, letter or other data transmission
method such as direct asynchronous transfer to the ·Netforce,18306  Registration
Server, will be construed as confirming the Customer's total acceptance of
these terms and conditions, subject as may otherwise be altered according to
the terms and conditions herein.

|b|s14PERIOD AND CONVERSION TO A PAID ACCOUNT|b|s10
Unless otherwise stated, the period of the agreement will be for 30 days from
inception, with the option to extend during that period to an annual agreement
under the Supplier's usual terms as published at:

|b|s09http://www.·netforce,18306 .net/dialup.htm|b|s10

The Supplier will issue reminders by ·email,9277  to the Customer's chosen mail
box when the period of the Trial is due to end. Unless specifically terminated
within 30 days of commencement of the trial service, the Supplier will
commence debiting the Customer's supplied credit card with the charges as
set out at:
|b|s09http://www.·netforce,18306 .net/|b|s10

|b|s12CHARGES|b|s10
The Trial Service as provided by the Supplier during the period of the trial
connection will be free of charge.

|b|s12IMPROPER USE|b|s10
The Supplier's Trial Service may only be used for lawful purposes by the
Customer at the site(s) specified in the service application form.
Transmission of any material through or the use of the Supplier's Trial
Service or any part of it in violation of any UK law or regulation is prohibited.
Such transmission includes but are not limited to copyright material, material
legally judged to be threatening libellous or obscene and material protected
by trade secret whether or not the Customer was aware of the content of the
material or the relevant law.

1.The Customer undertakes to comply fully at all times with all the relevant
provisions of the Financial Services Act 1986 and to notify the Supplier
forthwith if he conducts or commences to conduct any investment business
as defined by that Act, The Supplier reserves the right to cancel the
Agreement forthwith in the event that the Supplier has reasonable grounds for
believing that the Customer is not authorised under the Act, or has issued or
intends to issue an advertisement which is not approved by a person
authorised under the Act. The Customer undertakes to comply with the
provisions of the law of any jurisdiction and the Supplier will not be liable for
any such breach and resulting loss.

2.The Customer acknowledges that the Supplier is unable to exercise control
over the content of the information passing through the Service and the
Supplier hereby excludes all liability of any kind for the transmission or
reception of infringing information of whatever nature. The Customer hereby
agrees to indemnify and hold the Supplier harmless from any claim brought
by the parties alleging that use of the Trial Service by the Customer has
infringed any intellectual property right of any kind or any applicable UK or
international legislation or regulation. The Customer shall defend and pay all
costs, damages awards, fees (including reasonable legal fees) and
judgements finally awarded against the Supplier arising from such claims and
will provide the Supplier with notice of such claims, fully authority to defend,
compromise or settle such claims and reasonable assistance necessary to
defend such claims at the Customer's sole expense.

3.The Supplier's Trial Service may be used by the Customer to link into other
networks world-wide and the Customer agrees to conform to acceptable use
policies of such networks.

4.In addition the Customer undertakes to conform to any published Internet
protocols and standards and future such protocols and standards as
appropriate. In the event that the communications by the Customer do not
conform to these standards, or if the Customer makes profligate use of the
Supplier's network or services to the detriment of the Supplier or the
Supplier's Customers, the Supplier reserves the right to restrict the passage
of the Customer's communications until they give a suitable undertaking as to
use.

5.The Customer must only connect one node to the Trial Service and this
must not act as a router in any way. Additional subscriptions may be
purchased for multi-user use.

|b|s12DATA PROTECTION|b|s10
The Supplier reserves the right to put the names and other information from
the registration form relating to its Customers into a computerised directory
for internal use only, unless specific written instructions are received from the
Customer.

|b|s12INFORMATION|b|s10
The Customer undertakes to provide the Supplier with sufficient information
concerning its operations and activities which may be required by the
Supplier for the performance of its obligations under the agreement.

|b|s12LIABILITY|b|s10
In no event shall the Supplier be liable for any direct, indirect or
consequential damages from use of the Trial Service.

|b|s12EXCLUSION OF WARRANTY|b|s10
Any condition or warranty which might be implied or incorporated within this
agreement by reason of statute or common law or otherwise is hereby
expressly excluded so far as may be permitted by law. While the Supplier
will use all reasonable endeavours to provide a prompt and continuing
service it will not be liable for any loss of data resulting from delays, non
deliveries, speed of connection or service interruptions caused by events
beyond the control of the Supplier or by errors or omissions of the Customer.
In no circumstances whatsoever will the Supplier be liable for economical or
consequential loss. It is the responsibility of the Customer to ensure that a
data back-up is taken. The Supplier specifically excludes any warranty as to
the quality or accuracy of the information received through the Trial Service.

|b|s12RESTRICTION ON SUB-LEASING/RESELLING ETC|b|s10
The Customer in entering into this agreement undertakes that it will not
assign, resell, sub-lease or in any other way transfer the Trial Service.
Contravention of this restriction in any way, whether successful or not, will
result in the Trial Service being terminated by the Supplier.

|b|s12TERMINATION|b|s10
The Supplier will be entitled to terminate this agreement immediately if the
Customer breaches any of the conditions of this agreement.

|b|s12AGREEMENT|b|s10
This agreement represents the entire agreement between the parties to the
Services covered by this agreement.

|b|s12NOTICES|b|s10
Any notice given under this agreement by either party to the other must be in
writing and may be affected by the personal delivery, facsimile, registered
mail, postage and ·Internet,14318  mail message and shall in the case of facsimile
and ·Internet,14318  mail be deemed to have been received on the same date as it
was sent, and in the case of postage, within 48 hours after the date of posting.

|b|s12JURISDICTION|b|s10
This agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with
English Law and the parties submit to the jurisdiction of the English Courts.
|b|s18Data Central|b|s10

Data Central is the in-depth area of |b|s09 ·Access All Areas,0  |b|s10. Once you've used
the |bAbout Areas|b and |bSoftware Tutorial|b sections of the CD-ROM, you'll
want to get even more knowledge of the Net - this is where Data Central
comes in.

This area uses |b|s09 ·Access All Areas,0  |b|s10 super-fast hypetext system to bust
jargon in front of your eyes. You will also find lists of useful addresses for
software, mailing discussions and much more. Don't forget to use the Useful
URLs section to experience ·the Internet,25206 's ·World Wide Web,28238  without even
logging on!

Data Central, your first step to ·Internet,14318  expertise.


|b|s18The Very Short Story of the Internet|b|s10

·The Internet,25206  is not the recent invention that the media with all their hype
would lead you to believe. It's history dates back as far as 1968.

Assumptions about its future are equally misplaced in a great number of
ways. There are 'wars' currently under way on the Net regarding the place of
advertising, the level of access that should be offered to individuals, the use
of ·encryption,9585 , ·pornography,21507 , copyright, piracy and censorship. So let's look at
what has led to the current state of ·the Internet,25206  and then look forward to what
could be.

|b|s12The Past|b|s10
There are numerous explanations for the genesis of ·the Internet,25206 . Myths and
legends are already growing among its users, and these are being fuelled by
the media's desperation for a new story with some longevity. Like the internal
stoked engine, flight, space travel and even TV, ·the Internet,25206  really began with
a solid purpose in mind, and it took some incredibly hard work along the way.

Fortunately there is one fact that everybody agrees with, and that is that the
·Internet,14318  began life as a US military-funded project.

In the 1950s there were two main things fuelling US political and military
thinking, and these were intertwined: the Cold War and the rapidly growing
Space Race.

The Soviets had sent the first man into space, former Nazi scientists had
brought their additional rocket technology to both sides of the Iron Curtain,
and development of long range offensive and defensive systems was going
ahead apace. But weaponry was not the only inheritance from the latter years
of WWII. Computers had also come to the fore: the Enigma code breakers at
Bletchley Park and Alan Turing's theoretical work set the stage for the
enormous and rapid growth of computer technology.

|b|s12The Cold War Hots Up|b|s10
So with the Cold War raging on the battlefields of paranoia, and with computer
technology up to a standard that allowed for several autonomous computers
to operate at a reasonable rate of data processing, in 1957 the US Department
of Defense (DOD) commissioned the Advanced Research Projects Agency
(·ARPA,2013 ) to carry out research into modern technologies and their application to
even more modern defence and offence strategies. ·ARPA,2013  became one of the
heaviest users of the new 'super computers' that had been developed since
the end of the war. These computers took up entire rooms in the universities
and research centres which were used by ·ARPA,2013 . The computers were not only
huge, they were also hugely expensive to run.

These super computers used vast amounts of electricity to operate and cool;
magnetic tape to store data; valves that constantly needed replacing; and
entire teams of people, there simply to ensure that the computers didn't stop,
as well as the scientists and researchers who had to 'time-share' to gain
access. These machines were beasts. They were also less powerful than the
computer you're using to read this.

These computers were expensive, and prone to breakdown. Despite the often-
disrupted research programs - disrupted as yet another valve was fitted or yet
another person trained - the results of the research were actually growing as
the mundane number-crunching tasks were taken over by the computers.
Results were flooding in. Unfortunately, the teams were in danger of
replicating each other's results or, even worse, of working on areas that had
already been proved to be pointless by other groups. It was becoming
essential for the ·ARPA,2013  teams be able to share research and findings.

The most obvious route was to get the computers to 'talk' to each other so
that the results could be shared to the maximum benefit of all concerned. The
super computers were already linked to dumb terminals where the scientists
logged in to work at the main computer. Some basic local networking was also
under way, which saw computers on the same campus communicating with
each other. ·ARPA,2013  began to direct manpower and funds to maximising this
ability in order to enable computers on different sides of the country, or even
the Atlantic, to talk to each other.

|b|s12The Swinging 60s|b|s10
However, ·ARPA,2013  was not to have any easy ride: the early 1960s saw some
major disruptions (thankfully for ·Internet,14318  users everywhere). On the downside,
the glamour of the Space Race led to the formation of ·NASA,17918 , which split from
·ARPA,2013  taking the limelight and a chunk of Pentagon funding with it. However,
on the upside (although not at the time) 1962 also saw a major intellectual
catalyst in the rapid implementation of networked computers.

In May of that year, the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev ordered the
deployment of missiles carrying nuclear warheads on to the island of Cuba,
within striking distance of mainland USA. The Cuban Missile Crisis had
begun. As Cold War panic spread through the towns, villages and hamlets of
the USA, the scientists working at ·ARPA,2013  began to question the validity of their
kind of networks. The major problem was that the current form of networking
relied on two things:

The fact that the network was made up of big, important 'super computers'
with other smaller terminals connected to them.

The fact that the network relied on all its elements (the super computers)
being 'on-line'. If one of the super computers was taken out of the loop, then
the entire network ceased to function; data simply hit the space where a
computer should have been and stopped.

Aside from being a day-to-day nightmare for the researchers (when an
essential valve blew at ·Stanford,23828 's super computer, for example, and the
computer went off- line, the entire network countrywide was hung). This
situation was potentially fatal in a military sense, where the chances were
that the Soviets would indeed try to take out sites of military value. The US
military were beginning to rely on computers, via ·ARPA,2013  and other areas, for
early warning systems, rocket guidance, and even some offensive
capabilities. The Cuban Missile Crisis, with its potential for direct attacks on
the US mainland, highlighted the weakness of the network: one strategic hit
could take it down for hours, maybe days; two such strikes could decimate it
for good, and this was just with conventional rockets. So ·ARPA,2013  scientists, and
the various co-opted staff at the universities and corporations, turned their
minds to formulating a less fragile, more resilient network.

|b|s12Cuban Missile Catalyst|b|s10
The Cuban Missile Crisis passed when on December 6th 1962 the Soviets
withdrew the last of their offensive weaponry from Cuba (and on April 25th
1963, when President Kennedy withdrew the last Jupiter missile from Turkey).
The world breathed a sigh of relief. But the ·ARPA,2013  staff had a cause. The
question of creating a secure network was a tricky one, however, and it wasn't
until 1964 that a possible solution was produced by Paul Baran, a member of
staff at the Rand Corporation, one of the US DOD's major think-tanks. Baran
produced a paper entitled 'On Distributed Communication Networks' which
became known as 'The Rand Proposal'.

|b|s12The Rand Proposal|b|s10
The key here was the idea of 'distributed'. This meant that data on a network
did not rely on a single, given path from A to B. Think about delivering a letter:
if you go to a ·post,21664  box and find it closed or damaged, you don't usually go
home and wait for that specific box to re-open. Even if it is a pain in the
backside, you simply go to another ·post,21664  box, or you go to the main post
office. All your letter 'cares' about is where it's going, not how it gets there.

Baran's proposal was a supreme piece of lateral thinking, moving away from
standard principles of computer networks, which had relied on the thinking
that computers were linked in a linear fashion (A-to-B-to-C-to-D). Baran
basically suggested that as long as A and D were there, the actual data
couldn't care less whether it travelled via C-B or B-C to get there. His most
revolutionary suggestion was to do away with a hierarchy. He proposed that
every element (or node) on the network should be equal. This meant that each
computer on the network could have the same ability and authority to route
data as every other. With hindsight, this has had a huge pay-off for today's
·Internet,14318  users because it ensures that your personal computer is as important
(or unimportant) as, and can receive, send and route data on a par with, a VAX
in California.

But this step, no matter how brilliant, would not have been enough in itself to
ensure that the information actually got through. The basic problem lay in the
way in which the data was addressed (in the same way as an envelope is
addressed).

At the time, data was sent from one site to another over a direct line
connection. It was given a defined route to follow and if any element of that
route was disrupted, the message simply would not get through. Baran was
aware of the work being carried out elsewhere regarding the way in which
data could be sent in small units. These were called 'packets'.

In the Rand Proposal, Baran suggested that not only could large chunks of
data be chopped into smaller packets, but that each of the packets could be
individually addressed (given 'From' and 'To' addresses). These two pieces
of information were all that mattered to the packet.

When the Rand Proposal's two basic ideas were combined, it produced an
idea for a network that was not reliant on a single computer (everything was
as important and as active as everything else) with data that cared only about
its destination. The packets of data simply skipped from node to node looking
for the ·address,299  in their destination sections. The nodes along the way simply
acted as staging points. If one of these was destroyed, the data would stay in
transit looking for its destination elsewhere.

|b|s12Requests For Comment|b|s10
Looking back at this proposal it does look like an incredibly inefficient
system. Although the packets would eventually find their destinations, this
random route finding would make the journey slow compared to a direct link.
What we have to remember, more than 30 years later, is that the system was
being designed with nuclear war in mind. We also have to remember that this
system is what gave rise to the current ·Internet,14318 .

Distributed networking was all the rage in the 1960s. Not only was Rand
looking into it, but other research centres such as UCLA, ·MIT,17263  and the National
Physics Laboratory in the UK were also spending more time and resources
on the concept. All of this research was being sucked up by the Information
Processing Technologies Office (IPTO), which was a part of ·ARPA,2013  itself and
had been looking into methods for providing the military with a secure
networking system.

The obvious conclusion from all this work was for ·ARPA,2013  to set up its own
distributed networking system. The first inklings of this came in 1967 when
Lawrence G Roberts published a report detailing the first principles for
·ARPANet,2811 . The same year also saw the first principles of packet information
and packet switching. This notion of computers as switching points for data
rather than as sorting offices (if the data doesn't have your ·address,299 , then you
simply switch it over to the next available node) was crucial to today's
·Internet,14318 .

Two years passed, during which the National Physics Laboratory in the UK
experimented with a local network using the Rand Proposal principles. And
then in 1969, ·ARPANet,2811  was finally announced and named, with its first four
nodes placed at UCLA. ·The Internet,25206  as we understand it today was under way.
Also in 1969, Steve Crocker produce the very first 'request for connection'
(RFC) regarding the 'proposed internetworking of computer systems'. RFCs
remain with us on today's ·Internet,14318 , even if they are a little too complex for
most people to bother with.

That year also heralded the arrival of the IMPs (Information Message
Processors). These made use of what today we would consider to be
laughably small computers: Honeywell 516 mini computers using 12K (not
12Mb!) of memory at Bolt Beranek and Newman Incorporated in the USA.
These IMPs were the machines that enabled fast packet switching. Their
entire purpose in life was to transport data from one place to another.

Things were moving rapidly at the start of the 1970s. The Cold War threat,
while still in the political air, had lessened. ·ARPA,2013  was still ploughing away
with its research, often protected from heavy scrutiny by the glamorous
goings on at ·NASA,17918 . Also in 1970, the Network Computer Protocol (NCP) was
introduced to link all of the ·ARPANet,2811  host computers - computers that 'hosted'
communications over a network - so by 1971, ·ARPANet,2811  had expanded from a
four-host experiment to a 23-host concern.

So on October 3rd, 1972, the International Network Working Group was formed
at the International Conference on Computer Communications. At the same
conference, one of ·the Internet,25206 's true founding fathers, Bob Kahn, organised a
public demonstration of ·ARPANet,2811  at the International Conference on Computer
Communications in the basement of the Washington Hilton Hotel. This
demonstration was not merely open to the scientists working on networking, it
was open to the public, who could see applications working on computers,
and these computers were sited in different parts of the USA.

Kahn did not to stop with demonstrations, however. In 1973 he started his
research into what he called the 'internetting' of computers. To understand
this, you have to understand the concept of internetting itself. Networking
computers was one thing, and as we've seen it wasn't the most complex
achievement known to science. What was complex was connecting disparate
networks of computers together.

Kahn's work was not to stand alone. The previous year had seen the
instigation of the INWG (InterNetworking Group) lead by Vinton Cerf. INWG
was in a position to share knowledge such as Roy Tomlinson's email
program and the invention of ·Telnet,24988  (which is still in use today).

|b|s12Cerf & Kahn|b|s10
Cerf and Kahn's relationship was to bear plenty of rich fruit for Internetters
everywhere as, despite some political restructuring in 1972, 73 and 74, the
US DOD finally realised that its funding of ·ARPA,2013  was not going into the
development of missiles but into the development of networks to develop
missiles. This is probably the first significant example of a 'syndrome' that
affects many ·Internet,14318  users today. This manifests itself in the following way:

'I will buy a ·modem,17446  and get a Net connection to help my work. I'll do loads of
research, the kids can do school work, I can also find recipes and my partner
can get gardening tips, we can both learn more about the car . . .' Two weeks
later: 'Now if I can download that new ·FTP,11881  tool, invest in a new cable and
maybe a faster ·modem,17446 , I'll be able to do even more research.' Six months
later: 'If I can explain to my partner that we really need more than a 28.8K
·modem,17446 , that we only need to invest a few thousand quid for a T1 line and a
few thousand more for a 10Gb hard disk; if only we could make sure that we
get a clear connection to the States via Sprintlink, we'll only need to mortgage
the house, and the kids . . .' Watch out for this syndrome [:-)].

|b|s12Back to the History....|b|s10
As we have seen, Cerf and Kahn were picking up a head of steam in terms of
the research and development of ·the Internet,25206 . And while they worked on
distributed networking and other practical uses of the growing number of
theories regarding networking, ·ARPANet,2811  was improving and expanding. Its
growth was so rapid, and so energetic, that 1973 saw a dream come true: two
transatlantic nodes at ·University College London,26616  and Norway's Royal RADAR
Establishment came on-line.

But something was still missing. Although ·ARPANet,2811  had been operating with
the NCP, this protocol was still very experimental and didn't go far enough to
·address,299  the problems presented by data packets. A more stable 'language'
was needed to ensure that the different machines using different individual
protocols could be added to the network as a whole. Although data was being
transported, new techniques to improve speed and efficiency were being
introduced along the way.

Along with ·email,9277  and ·Telnet,24988  (which enabled people to log into remote
computers of any kind as long as these computers were using the Telnet
protocol; useful if you were a research scientist at a conference, or even at
home, who needed to get at information in your base computer), a protocol for
file transmission was also developed. Kahn and Cerf put their minds to the
task of producing a language that could cope with different base network
languages using different protocols, and in 1974 presented the 'Protocol for
Packet Network Internetting'. Not particularly exciting, until you realise that
this laid the foundations for what was to become the Transport Control
Protocol or ·TCP,24111 .

Cerf had dreamt of a system that used the model of ·ARPANet,2811 's IMPs to
transmit data. The ·ARPANet,2811  IMPs were really dumb machines not capable of
much besides packet switching. They still needed the power of the larger
computers to actually do anything constructive with the data. However, the
notion of IMP packet switching where the IMPs were incorporated into
computers at different sites, using different operating systems (a DEC VAX at
one site, an PDP at another site . . .) was more appealing if the IMPs were
themselves computers.

Cerf and Kahn's paper went some way to addressing this, but on a more
generally important front, 1974 also saw the first publicly available
packet-switched network. BBN (Bolt, Beranek and Newman Incorporated) set
up its ·Telnet,24988  service to give non-academics the chance to sample an
·ARPANet,2811 -like environment. This can really be seen as the first ·ISP,16050 .

·The Internet,25206  moved on apace from here (with even our own Queen Elizabeth
apparently sending an ·email,9277  in or around 1976). Because of its Unix-base,
flexibility, and the fact that it could be ported to many different kinds of
computers, ·TCP,24111  was gradually taking over from NCP as the standard protocol
to link networks to ·ARPANet,2811 .


|b|s14There is much more of this feature to read in the full version of|b
|bAccess All Areas|b|s10